Code Geass R3: A Noble Act
by elle6778
Summary: Set after the events of R2. The United Federation of Nations faces a threat that shakes the fragile peace of the world. Two years ago, Zero saved them from a dictatorship, but that was then. Just as Kallen begins to wonder if this Zero has what it takes to be a savior, she encounters a flash from the past.
1. Act 1

Disclaimer: Code Geass is created by Sunrise, directed by Gorō Taniguchi, and written by Ichirō Ōkouchi. This fanfiction had been written for entertainment purposes only and without intention of infringing upon any copyright.

Title: Code Geass R3: A Noble Act

Author: elle6778  
Rating: T

Genre: Action/Drama

Summary: Set after the events of R2. The United Federation of Nations faces a threat that shakes the fragile peace of the world. Two years ago, Zero saved them from a dictatorship. Just as Kallen begins to wonder if this Zero is able to save them, she encounters a flash from the past.

Characters: Lelouch and Kallen

A/N: This is my first Code Geass fanfic, although I have written a fair number of Naruto and Inuyasha fanfics. After days of agonizing over whether I should really embark on yet another story, I finally gave in to the temptation and this story was born on 28 August 2012. It is a representation of what I want to see if a season 3 ever appears, so it contains spoilers all the way up to the end of season 2. All that said, I hope you'll like this.

000

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000

**A Noble Act by elle6778 - Act 1**

Two years had passed since that fateful day when a single person's acts destroyed the world, only to recreate it anew. The colonies had been freed from the insult of bearing numbers as their identities, and were well on their way to construct a better world for their citizens to live in. Segregation based on political hierarchy and culture was no longer encouraged. It was a slow process but the population of the ex-colonies of Britannia was gradually learning to tolerate and accept those who held different personal beliefs.

Kallen smiled wistfully. "The world is a much better place now, Lelouch," she whispered as she reached out to touch the smooth marble in front of her. "Thanks to you."

Glancing up, she took note of her surroundings from her position under one of the many tall trees in the courtyard. There were other tombstones scattered about but she wondered just how many of these plots actually housed a body underneath. She was certain that the one in front of her was empty below the marble slab with 'Lelouch Lamperouge' engraved upon its surface.

Two years ago, Jeremiah had all but snatched Lelouch's lifeless body from a crying Nunnaly's grasping arms and the next thing she knew, a foreign Knightmare Frame swooped down to pick them up. Neither had been seen again and she could only presume that Jeremiah didn't wish for his prince's body to be desecrated and had buried him somewhere else. For it would certainly be desecrated. The masses hated Lelouch vi Britannia with a vengeance.

Her chest twisted, causing her to inhale sharply. She often tried not to think about Lelouch because each time she was torn between a myriad of emotions. More often than not, she had to push aside a sinking sensation of regret and tell herself that she was truly happy that things had worked out so well. The streets were safe and one no longer saw blatant oppressions of the weak at the turn of each corner. Passersby no longer regarded others as suspicious entities. Ashford Academy as well as other establishments now welcomed people from all walks of life as long as one possessed the necessary merit. According to some students she had spoken to, Ashford even served Japanese food these days. So yes, the world around her was a better place to live in.

Feeling the prickle of hot tears behind her eyelids, Kallen blinked quickly and turned away from the tombstone. She always became irrationally emotional whenever she visited him. It was time to go before she embarrassed herself completely. Her feet took her towards the end of the courtyard. There, two guards stood flanking the iron gate. As a sign of respect for Zero's contribution to the peace, the Japanese military forces now donned a slightly modified form of the Black Knight's uniform. They nodded at her when she exited. If they wondered why she was visiting a tyrant's grave on the second anniversary of his death, it did not show on their faces.

Lost in her thoughts about what Lelouch would think of the fact that his Black Knight's uniform had become a symbol of protection, she did not notice the approach of a tall figure until he was almost upon her. Halting, she looked up and as always, her heart skipped a beat at the familiar sight even though she knew that underneath, he was not the person she hoped to see.

"Kouzuki," the masked figure greeted.

"Zero-sama," she greeted in a respectful tone.

It was not as if she did not know who was hidden behind the mask. The former Zero often addressed her as Q-1. This Zero had never addressed her thusly. The difference was so obvious that there was no way she could ignore it. But whatever her feelings were on this topic, the act must go on, right? To do otherwise would be to disobey Lelouch's final order and that was something she had no intention of doing.

The mask tilted, giving the impression that he was looking past her shoulder. "It's been two years already."

"Yes." After a brief pause, she added, "Should you really be here? I mean, doesn't it look a bit weird for you to visit when…"

"When I'm the one who killed him?" he supplied flatly.

She glanced away quickly. The two men had been good friends in the past and what he had done must be unbearably painful. Nevertheless, that did not stop her from feeling illogically _angry_ with him for taking Lelouch's life. This man in front of her _knew_ what Lelouch was planning. He'd been given the privilege no one else had. Couldn't he have persuaded Lelouch to find a way that did not involve his death? Surely with his brilliance, Lelouch could think of another plan? Why die for the cause?

"No one had mentioned it."

Her eyes went to his masked face. "What?"

"No one said anything when I visited last year." He shrugged. "And it doesn't matter even if they did. This is something I need to do."

She did not know that he'd come but then again, last year she'd waited until it was dark before she came here. It was a good thing too, because she'd departed with a pair of red-rimmed eyes and damp cheeks. The darkness had provided a good cover when she walked past the guards.

She glanced away from him. Not wanting to prolong this encounter, she said, "Well, I'd better not keep you. I'll see you around."

He nodded.

As Kallen walked past him, she could feel his eyes on her.

000

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000

Suzaku climbed the steps leading up to the Administration Complex. The network of buildings that had just been completed a year ago extended over a great area and housed all the departments necessary to run Japan.

His steps felt strangely heavy. He could not help but think that when he had been a Britannian soldier, he was weighed down with the guilt of killing his own father. And now, he was weighed down by the sheer responsibility of being Zero. He had never thought that he would be in this position, and Lelouch was right in saying that this would be a form of punishment for him. These two years had not been easy with countless people depending on him to do and say the right thing.

Reflexively, he reached down to the left pocket of his purple suit. There was a comforting bulge right over his heart. It was a fitting place to store the device Lelouch had given him that morning a few hours before he had driven the sword through his old friend's heart. Without the device, he would be even more lost.

The main entrance to the Administration Complex was guarded by a handful of soldiers. They bowed respectfully at his approach and he reciprocated the gesture. The second he stepped into the building, Lloyd's assistant Cecile appeared and rushed towards him. For a moment, he wondered why they were in Japan instead of England, and then he remembered that Kaguya had urged Nunnaly to request their assistance with the Knightmare Frames a few weeks ago.

"Zero-sama. If you have a moment, can you come with me to the hanger? We would like your input on something."

At least the hanger was a place which reminded him of simpler times, he thought as he replied, "Show me."

Cecile walked off rapidly and he followed until he reached the massive enclosure at the west end of the complex. She led him into Hangar 1. There he was greeted by rows of Knightmare Frames lining up against each side of the spacious hangar. The gold and white of Lancelot's successor, Lancelot Titan caught his attention but it was no longer his. Lancelot had belonged to Suzaku and he was no longer Suzaku. He was Zero and Zero's Knightmare was Shinkirou. However, Shinkirou had been destroyed as well as its blueprints, rendering it impossible for them to rebuild the device without Rakshata's expertise.

He glanced across the hangar. The blue and gold Gawain T2 was now his Knightmare. Fortunately, it hadn't been necessary for him to participate in a serious battle ever since he'd adopted it. The attack and defense mechanisms of this Knightmare depended heavily on complex calculations and although he was not an idiot, he was nowhere near as mentally agile as Lelouch. His strength was focused on the physical side. He winced inwardly as he recalled a not-so-offhand remark Kallen had made several days after Zero Requiem.

"I didn't know you could run that fast," she'd said dryly. "And dodge all those bullets."

It was like a slap in the face. He could ruin everything if he was not careful. Since then, he'd been at great pains to limit his physical activities but it was driving him crazy. For all he knew, he could be physically as hopeless as Lelouch now with the constant lack of activity.

"Here it is."

Cecile's voice drew his out of his contemplations and Suzaku looked up to find a shiny Guren staring down at him. The gold and white of Lancelot caught the corner of his eyes again, but Suzaku kept his attention on the red Knightmare Frame. Lloyd walked up to them then, a wide smile stretching across his face.

"Ah, Zero. Here you are. You're a hard man to track down," he said. "Busy running the world?"

Brushing away Lloyd's teasing, he asked, "What is it?"

Cecile gestured to the Guren. "The new modifications are successful but until it is tested, we won't know how well it works. Initial numerical data suggests that it might be slower because of all the additions, so we were wondering if we should strip it down."

Lloyd interjected casually, "The new attachments made it heavier and unless we can increase the energy supply or reduce the weight, it's bound to be slower. Having said that, it doesn't need much speed nowadays, does it? I've been told that it has only ever been used for construction lately."

Cecile elbowed him. "We all agreed that the rebuilding would be faster with the help of the Knightmare Frames."

"Tsk! Knightmare Frames are not construction tools," he pointed out. Looking thoughtful, he added, "Though we might be able to fit a crane or two on their backs without too much effort."

Rolling her eyes in exasperation, Cecile turned away from her superior. "So, what do you think, Zero-sama?"

Suzaku studied the Knightmare Frame thoughtfully and then said, "Guren's main advantage is its speed so I'd rather not compromise that. However, I think it's best that you consult Kallen. She's the devicer."

Lloyd blinked at him. "Right." Then with a knowing smirk, he added, "Letting your subordinates decide nowadays, huh?"

Suzaku almost groaned aloud. Even though no one alive except C.C. was certain of his true identity, there was an uncomfortably long list of people who knew that he was not the original Zero. As far as he was aware, the occupants of this list included Cornelia, Schneizel, Kanon, Toudou, Ougi, Tamaki, Chiba, Villetta, Kallen, Nina, Cecile and of course, Lloyd. Sometimes, he even suspected that Lloyd knew much more than what he let on.

In the end, Suzaku decided not to dignify his question with a verbal response. Instead, he gave the man a prolonged stare until the scientist looked away with an uncomfortable chuckle.

Turning to Cecile, he asked, "Is that all?"

The blue-haired woman nodded, her lips twitching and betraying her barely concealed amusement.

Suzaku wasted no time in leaving the hangar. A quick glance at his watch told him that he was due to meet the Japanese Council. Kaguya acted as the representative for UFN, but he, Nunnaly and a handful of others also had seats in the council. Before long, someone caught up with him to remind him of the meeting.

"Zero-sama, the meeting is about to begin."

He nodded at the Black Knight. "Everyone has arrived?"

The soldier nodded.

"Then let's go."

As he continued to the conference room, he mentally ran through the points he'd memorized last night. It was time for him to put on another good act.

000

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000

Her footsteps echoed loudly as she stepped into the hangar. The place was deserted, but that was not surprising. It was lunchtime after all. One of the clauses in the new UFN charter stated that all employees had the right to leave their work premises during that hour of lunch break. Most employees took advantage of that.

"Kallen-chan!"

She glared at the approaching scientist. "How many times have I told you not to call me that, Lloyd?"

"Oh? Such a hostile response. We're all friend here, surely."

She bit back the urge to strangle the annoying man. "What do you want?" she asked bluntly.

"Is that the way to speak to a man bearing gifts?"

Arching a brow, she echoed skeptically, "Gifts?"

He pushed his glasses up. "Upgrades then," he amended mockingly. "We've been asked to do so by your bosses."

Kallen blinked. Guren had been repaired after the battle but she wasn't aware that Project Camelot was up and running again. From what she understood, funds had been diverted from the military and defense to the infrastructure department to aid the reconstruction of Japan. When the research team from England had arrived a few weeks ago, she'd thought they'd come to carry out the regular bi-yearly checkup on the Knightmare Frames. Did Kaguya think that it was time to rebuild their defenses and had therefore asked for the upgrades? Curious, Kallen followed him to her Guren and blinked at the sight of the additional attachments.

"What's that? A _fin_?" she exclaimed incredulously.

"This is Guren CIII. It could fly and now it can swim," Lloyd declared with a smug smile. "You should be happy. It's one of the highest spec frames I've ever worked on."

Narrowing her eyes at him, she asked suspiciously, "So what's wrong with it?"

"Ah, you've such little faith in me." Then he stuck up a finger. "But you're right. In short, the additions made it heavier and the calculations predict a loss in speed."

"No way!" she cried out in dismay. "Can't you do something about it? Rakshata managed to get Shinkirou to fly _and_ dive two years ago. And Shinkirou was _fast_."

Lloyd's expression darkened instantly at the mention of his archrival. "Just in case it had escaped your notice, it's only recently that we received funding for military research. And besides, what's the use of speaking of a woman who'd abandoned her post when it suited her? Where is she now?"

Kallen threw up her hands. "How should I know?"

"Just disappeared with a stupid note," Lloyd muttered in disgust as he shook his head. "She's still as unmanageable as ever."

This was definitely not the first time she had heard the man rant about Rakshata. Sometimes she even wondered if he had a personal interest in the Indian scientist. It probably didn't matter now, since the Indian scientist was long gone. Shortly after the councils were formed, she'd given some vague excuse about visiting India and then had chosen not to return despite their urgings. And eventually, she'd even ceased to respond to any communications from Japan. She was probably working solely for India now.

"So what now?"

Lloyd sobered up and studied the Guren shrewdly. "We need to lose some dead weight off the frame, I suppose. But in the meantime, you should take it out for a drive. We need some test data to see how well the attachment is integrating with the original system."

"I can take Guren out now if you like."

Lloyd opened his mouth to say something but before the words came out, the ground beneath them trembled suddenly.

"What the-" Kallen exclaimed in surprise, reaching out to brace herself against her Knightmare. "Is that an earthquake or something?"

The trembling halted. Lloyd frowned and then went to the rows of monitors nearby. His fingers ran over the keys as Kallen closed the distance between them. Her eyes widened when one particular monitor flickered into view.

"What is that?" she whispered as she stared in disbelief at the enormous cloud of smoke rising up from a paper factory not far from the Administration Complex. "An accident?"

"Maybe," Lloyd replied carelessly as his fingers continued to type.

Another screen popped up. This one displayed a similar grey cloud of smoke but it was located in a very familiar place. Kallen gasped in horror as she took in the sight of what was left of the sports stadium in Ashford Academy.

"Or maybe not," Lloyd added with a troubled frown.

Kallen felt her blood drain from her face. She really hoped that it was not true but it looked like Japan was under attack again.

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000

Jeremiah reached up his arms and stretched, yawning widely as he did so.

What time was it? He squinted at the bright sunlight streaming in through the gaps of the wooden shutters. It must be quite late. The orange harvest had just been completed yesterday and this was the first time in ages that he had the opportunity to sleep in. Even with the cybernetic enhancements, his body was sore from the physical strain but it was a productive kind of sore. He'd never felt better.

"Finally awake?"

He turned to the side to find Anya standing at his bedroom door. "Ah, yes. What's the time?"

"Almost two," the girl replied in her soft voice. "There's something you need to see."

And then she walked out with her pink hair bouncing behind her, leaving him to follow in his own time. Shaking his head, he sat up and swung his legs off the bed.

"Tch. Her social skills could do with some improving," he grumbled as he discarded his sleeping attire and dressed for the day. "Returning her memories made no difference at all."

However, she seemed to feel as if she owed him something for that. When he had chosen to go into hiding, he had not expected anyone to find him but she did. One day, she had simply turned up and had never left since. As far as he knew, she had not reported his location to anyone.

By the time he stepped out of his bedroom to the open plan area which housed the living room, dining area and kitchen, he found the window shutters closed tight. Comprehending its significance, he went to a tall wall cabinet and pressed his palm onto a hidden panel. It swung open and he stepped in. A steep flight of steps down took him to a brightly lit space beneath their house where the hum of electronics greeted him. The atmosphere down here was a far cry from the rustic conditions upstairs but it was necessary for them to keep a low profile. Technology this advanced so far out in the secluded countryside would attract unwanted attention.

At one end of the space, Anya was seated on a couch in front of a large screen. The news was on and the focus was Tokyo. Jeremiah stilled when he took in the information.

"… _less than an hour ago. So far, there are no reports of civilian casualties but no one can confirm for sure since the structures cannot be accessed yet. The fires could be seen from the street and for safety, these areas have been cordoned off. The public is advised to steer clear as to not impede the investigation and cleanup operations. Officials suggest that the cause might have been faulty machineries which happen to be present at all three locations…" _

Jeremiah continued to listen as the news reporter lists the possible equipment that could have caused the explosion. Slowly, he looked away from the screen to search Anya's face. Her expression was unreadable but he could almost hear what she was thinking.

Simultaneous explosions large enough to obliterate a sports stadium, a paper factory, and a fuel distribution center without a single human casualty? Someone had planned this whole thing carefully and the Japanese officials knew that. They were only covering up because they didn't want mass hysteria to spread. But who could be behind this?

He left the underground chamber and walked back up to his room. There, he sat down at the edge of the creaky bed. In front of him was a wooden chest with a fingerprint lock disguised within a traditionally carved crest. Reaching out, he pressed his thumb against the sensor. Once it opened, he stared at the items that represented his past. It looked like he might have to use them again.

_So, it's happening just the way you predicted, Lelouch-sama. _

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:elle6778:


	2. Act 2

Disclaimer: Code Geass is created by Sunrise, directed by Goro Taniguchi, and written by Ichiro Okouchi. This fanfiction had been written for entertainment purposes only and without intention of infringing upon any copyright.

* * *

**A Noble Act by elle6778 - Act 2 **

C.C. chewed languidly on a long stalk of grass as she stared up into the sky. Or rather at the leaves forming a canopy shading her from the intensity of the sun. She had been resting here for what seemed like hours, enjoying the slight breeze that brought her just a small amount of relief from the heat.

Sighing, she rolled over onto her stomach. The countryside was really not her thing. How she wished that she was somewhere more civilized. Out here, she could not even get a decent pizza. The best she could do was to take a bus to the nearest town but that just took too much effort in this heat. The local cuisine was not so bad but nothing compared favorably to pizza.

Turning again to recline on her back, she murmured, "Ne, it's your fault that I'm here." She threw the mutilated stalk of grass to the side. Stretching her arms forward to form shapes with her fingers, she added, "Maybe I should get a ticket and fly to Italy. The pizza there is really good."

A shuffling sound came from her left and she twisted her neck until a figure came into her line of sight. A straw hat was perched on top of his head and white cotton surrounded his neck. The figure was pushing a cart filled with recently harvested rice. She looked away disinterestedly and began to wonder when would be the best time to leave.

"Probably before they start attacking China," she decided. "Authorities might shut the airports if they're worried about security. What should I do then?"

She plucked another stalk of grass and popped the end into her mouth. "At the worst, I can use the waterways to leave. But it would take too long to reach Italy that way."

The shuffling sound of feet on grass grew louder.

"Maybe I should start packing soon."

"Speaking to yourself again, C.C.?"

Without looking at the speaker, she smiled slightly. "You don't sound too surprised."

"Guess not. So, planning a trip somewhere?"

She pushed herself up so that she could see him better. "Maybe Italy."

A hint of black flashed under the rim of the straw hat. "Not quite the destination on my mind."

"I know what you're thinking." She turned to face the sky again. "And I don't like it."

"You don't have to like it."

"You shouldn't do it."

"It's necessary."

"I don't approve."

"But you'll help anyway."

"No I won't."

He laughed out loud, clearly amused. Without another word, he walked away, leaving her to stare thoughtfully at the other stalk of chewed-up grass in her hand. Then, with a moody sigh, she tossed it away and laid back down.

He knew her far too well.

000

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000

"What do you think is happening, Zero?"

Tianzi's question was a good one. Unfortunately, he didn't know the answer. The events of the past month were truly testing him. Despite his efforts, he had gotten nowhere with the investigations. The problem was, Zero had always appeared as if he had a solution to any crisis. Now that he was failing to produce any useful results, he wondered if people would begin to lose faith. And if they lost faith in Zero…

No, Suzaku chided himself sternly. He couldn't allow himself to think like that. He would not run at the first sign of trouble. Lelouch was counting on him to make this work, and he would just have to push on.

"It's obvious that someone's behind this," he declared.

"The question is who," Kaguya voiced out. "The first attack was on Japanese territory. Even though five different sites were affected so far, it had been possible to tell the public that it's the result of malfunctioning machinery. But now that more countries are affected, it's harder to convince people not to worry."

"Some of our museums in London have been destroyed overnight," Guilford said. "Just like Japan and Spain, there were no human casualties."

"They are taunting us," Cornelia pointed out darkly. Beside her, Guilford nodded in agreement. "They're warning us that they could easily set up bombs during the day and kill thousands of civilians. Their targeted areas are usually well-populated."

An angry Korean councilman stood up and slammed his palms on the surface of the table. "Who's to say they wouldn't target the population just to make a point?"

"We can't afford to have the world descend into chaos and violence again!" the Indian representative exclaimed tersely.

Tianzi sighed heavily. "Are we only allowed two years of peace?"

Xiang-Lin said, "We have to control it before the situation devolves out of control."

Cornelia gave her an impatient look. "You're stating the obvious. Their identity is a mystery. They're not even trying to make contact so we have no idea what they're after."

"To take over the world, for all we know," the Russian representative growled. "Bastards."

"Language, Vladimir," Kaguya chided lightly. "But you might have a point there. It could be why there's no human casualty. Human casualties would cause them to lose support."

Suzaku listened as the council members of the nations continued to debate the matter. If only Schneizel was here. Lelouch had once said that Schneizel was the only one he couldn't beat in chess. But the man had gone missing months ago and despite his efforts, he was unable to find him. He hated to think that Schneizel might be involved in this somehow.

"We should deploy our military forces," Cornelia said with a determined expression.

The Indian representative frowned. "We can't be flooding our capitals with soldiers."

"People would panic," Xing-ke, China's military officer, pointed out. "Besides, no one knows when and where they will strike again."

"They won't. We'll stop them," Suzaku said with more conviction than he felt. Confidence, he reminded himself, was one of Zero's methods of instilling faith in his followers. "Compile the results of the forensics from those sites in Japan, Spain and London and gather a specialist team to dissect the combined information. Xing-ke, would you mind overseeing the task and find out if there's anything we can use to track these people down?"

The long-haired man nodded. "I accept the task."

With the discussion of the main subject completed, the representatives of the different states and their councilors turned their attention to the more mundane matters, allowing Suzaku to sit back and mull over his decision. It occurred to him that perhaps Lelouch had predicted the possibility of this happening and had put Schneizel under a Geass to obey Zero for this reason. It was no secret that Suzaku's strategies left much to be desired, after all. The problem was, Lelouch had not predicted that Schneizel would disappear when he was needed most.

Beside him, a soft voice asked, "Are you alright?"

He glanced to the side to find Nunnaly watching him with concern. In a quiet voice, he returned, "Should I be?"

000

* * *

000

Kallen sat on the window ledge facing the front yard of the house. The carefully tended garden was calming and she liked to sit here and think. She could hear her mother moving about in the kitchen at the back as she prepared dinner. Her mother was improving by leaps and bounds now that she'd been free from Refrain for years. Being in a normal environment with her daughter helped her progress as well.

"Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes, Kallen. Why don't you change out of your work clothes first?"

"Alright, Okaa-san."

She glanced down at the black uniform that she had worn today to pilot Guren CIII. Lloyd had finally completed the upgrade, thankfully without any loss of speed. The Knightmare Frame had followed her to the job site where she was helping with the rebuilding and its strength had sped up the work considerably. It was not only Guren. Other Knightmare Frames were also being drafted to assist in the reconstruction work. But with the recent disturbances in the world, she wondered if the Knightmares would soon be thrust back into their original roles.

Getting to her feet, she reached for the controller and switched on the console mounted on the wall. In moments, the news module was activated and as she had expected, yet another public area had been destroyed. In the last two months, Japan, Spain, London, Germany, India and a handful of other countries had been affected. All of them, however, suffered no human casualties.

When would Zero act, she wondered impatiently. This had gone on for too long. Was this Zero capable of putting together an effective strategy in time to stop things from escalating further? She hated the way she was having doubts because it was almost like she disrespected Lelouch's decision. Lelouch must have known what he was doing, so she should rest easy, right? But it was difficult to convince herself that things would turn out fine.

Footsteps signaled her mother's approach. Kallen felt a light touch on her shoulder and she turned to smile at her mother. The older woman was more affectionate now and Kallen appreciated the small comfort.

"Another incident?" she asked as she wiped her hands on the apron.

Kallen nodded. "In Cambodia this time."

"No one got hurt?"

"Not as far as anyone can tell."

"That's good then. It's probably some terrorist organization trying to get some attention. Come on, get changed and we can eat in a while."

And with that, her mother turned and left. Kallen wondered if most civilians were as cavalier as she was about these incidences.

She went upstairs to wash and change, coming down just as her mother set the last steaming bowl on the table. Dinner was a pleasant affair where she regaled her mother with light tales at work. She was the only Knightmare Frame devicer at the construction site of the new shopping district south of Tokyo, so everyone was very taken with her Guren. Needless to say, the workers around her had plagued her non-stop for a chance to pilot the Knightmare Frame. Unfortunately for them and fortunately for Guren, protocol prohibited it.

"Enough talk about work. You haven't been out socializing lately," her mother chided gently.

She hedged, "I will when I find time, Okaa-san."

"Did something happen between you and that boy? Did you argue?" her mother asked with a smile.

Boy? The moment realization dawned, she exclaimed, "Oh, you mean Gino?"

"Yes, Gino. No more dates with him?"

She screwed up her face when she recalled the date almost four months ago. "That's just a one-off thing. He needed someone to go with him to the ball."

"He came to visit you long before that, though."

Kallen shook her head. "That was because he needed my help with something."

"He's a handsome boy."

"Okaa-san!"

Her mother laughed gaily, shaking her head. Thankfully, she dropped the subject and moved on to talk about the new neighbor who had moved in several doors away. Apparently, the man was disabled so he had to have carers coming in to help him almost every day for the past three months.

Just as Kallen finished her meal, she heard her phone's melodic ringtone.

"Excuse me."

She left the table and went out to the living room where she'd left it plugged into the sakuradite charger. It had run out of energy a few hours ago when she'd been outside. As she picked it up, her heart gave a jolt at the familiar name on the display screen. Tamping down on her wayward emotions, she flicked the phone open and brought it to her ear.

"Yes?"

"Kouzuki. Where were you?"

"What do you mean?" Recalling what had happened to the battery, she explained, "The sakuradite ran out on my phone. What's the matter?"

"Report to Command Central right now."

She frowned. "What happened?" she asked.

"You'll be briefed when you get here."

"Okay."

And he hung up.

For a while, she could only stare apprehensively at the phone in her hand. The last time she had been called out at night was more than two years ago. This call did not bode well.

Then, realizing that it might be an emergency, she galvanized into action. In minutes, she was dressed in her uniform again and was on her way out of the house.

"Don't wait up for me, Okaa-san!" she called out when she reached the front door.

"Take care!"

Before she knew it, she was racing down the lightly trafficked road on her bike. Even at top speed, it took her twenty minutes to reach the Administration Complex. Once there, she parked her bike and observed with relief that the area appeared to be intact. It hadn't suffered an attack then. Wondering what the hell was going on, she sprinted up the entrance steps, spared a quick nod to the security guards and made her way through the personnel's lobby. The double door with a huge sign over displaying 'Command Central' loomed ahead and she quickened her steps. She pushed it open.

There were voices filtering out from the meeting room to the right and she made a beeline for it. The voices died down a little at her entry but when they saw whom it was, they returned to their heated conversation. She swept her eyes over the gathering of familiar faces with a growing sense of trepidation. Zero was seated at the head of the table with a large wall-mounted screen behind him.

Since everyone seemed to be ignoring her in favor of their own debates, she went to the remaining empty seat. It was the one next to Zero. Since the occupants of the room formed the top layer of the Black Knights organization that now made up the Japanese military, they must have expected her to sit next to their Leader as she'd always done.

"So what happened?" she asked cautiously.

"The enemy made contact with Kaguya."

Kallen's eyes widened. "Who is it?"

Zero's right hand clenched into a fist. "We don't know. It was just a voice communication."

"So what are they after?"

There was a moment of silence before he said, "Power."

"What?"

"They said that UFN is merely a front for a known terrorist. Meaning Zero," he said with disgust. "And that in the end the individuality of each nation is still compromised because of the main charter. We are apparently no different from Britannia. They claim that once the population has grown weak with contentment, UFN's true nature would surface."

"B-But…" She frowned in astonishment. "Things are _working_ for once. There's no fighting and people have enough to eat and comfortable homed to live in."

"They're just making up excuses to plant doubt in people's mind. They have an ulterior motive that we know nothing of."

Kallen stared at the table, hardly believing that the fighting was likely to start again. That she would once again run a Knightmare Frame armed for combat. Would Japan be reduced to rubble this time? How many people would be lost in another skirmish for power?

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Suzaku studied the expressions of the team leaders of the Black Knights. They were discussing the situation amongst themselves with various degrees of agitation. Kallen was clearly worried and he did not blame her. He was just as concerned despite the decision made during the council meeting earlier.

Deciding to get this over with, he stood up and raised a hand. "Silence!"

The noise instantly died out. Without further ado, he spoke, "Our knowledge of the enemy is limited. But now that Kaguya has refused to cooperate with their demand to leave UFN, we can expect them to intensify their attacks to make a point and to drive us into a corner."

The men and women around the table stared at him intently.

Keeping a calm façade, he continued, "We will not allow it. We have to prevent this, or at the worse case, ensure that the damage is limited. You'll be deployed with your own team to carry out this task to the best of your abilities."

He brought up a map of Japan onto the screen behind him. Stepping to one side, he scrolled through various cities. Black dots, each with a white number in the middle which represented the teams, were overlaid on the map in some sort of grid.

"This shows where each of you will be stationed. You'll notice that no one is assigned to the less populated areas. We don't have enough resources to cover every inch of Japan and besides, we don't want to panic the civilians. They'll be told that we're having a military drill and to carry on with their daily routines. Any questions?"

A cacophony of noise erupted as everyone spoke at the same time.

"Are we stationed there on foot?"

"How long is this assignment for? Where would we live?"

"What about Knightmares?"

"Weapons?"

"It's like fighting an invisible enemy. What should we look out for in the first place?"

Suzaku wanted to shout for them to be quiet. He could hardly think with all the noise.

Thankfully, Toudou interjected, "We're to keep our eyes open to observe any irregularities and if we find any, report back. Is that correct, Zero?"

Suzaku nodded. "And yes, a quarter of each team will go in their Knightmare Frames. The rest is to blend in with the local population on foot."

"So about five Knightmares and fifteen ground troops per team, then?" Kallen asked.

"More or less," he confirmed. He focused on the map of Tokyo. "Four teams will remain here."

"That's much more than elsewhere. You expect them move in on Tokyo first?" Ougi asked, obviously concerned about the safety of his child.

"They have more to gain by attacking Tokyo," Zero said. "You'll move out tomorrow. Adequate living arrangement has been made where necessary and appropriate weapons will be assigned to you when you report in at 0700 hours tomorrow. Remember to keep a low profile and don't cause a panic amongst the civilians. You can go now. You have a long day ahead tomorrow."

As they trailed out of the room behind the group, he could not help but hope that this time, the situation would be contained before things went wrong.

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Kallen grimaced as she gripped the controls of her Knightmare Frame firmly, bracing herself for the next onslaught. The first day of her posting at the outskirts of Tokyo close to Ashford Academy had gone by without incident. Even though she and her team had been tense the entirety of yesterday, nothing had happened.

She should have known that it was too good to be true.

Today was their second day in the same spot and it was altogether a different story. Even though the metal around her subdued external noises, she could still hear the terrified screams of the students as they ran desperately to safety. Two large evacuation vehicles that had come with her team were parked at the front courtyard, and under the guidance of the Black Knights ground team the students were being loaded into the impact-proof enclosure. She only hoped that the backup she had called for had an hour ago arrived soon before the situation deteriorated.

Activating the comms, she asked, "Kaoru, how long more?"

"The student council members should be the last, and they're not out yet."

Kallen hissed in annoyance.

Ashford Academy was under attack and their enemy was not using Knightmare Frames. Dotting the air above the Academy like locusts, the numerous invaders were the size of regular cars and were shaped like flattened elliptical discs. She'd never seen anything like them before in her life. Their shape meant that they were aerodynamically more efficient and therefore flew much faster than the Knightmares. Even with the Hadron Cannons, it had been hard to land a hit. However, her persistence had paid off finally and a few of them were now lying broken on the ground with black smoke rising up from the remains. When things calmed down later, the ground team would drag out the pilots and they could finally discover the identity of their enemy. But right now, they had to concentrate on the battle.

She glanced around the courtyard grimly. Her team had sustained a substantial damage. The two Knightmares that had been patrolling the perimeter had spotted the invading fleet first. Unfortunately, their attempts at intercepting resulted in them being shot down by the enemy's plasma pulses. Thankfully, the devicers had ejected on time. Five of her ground troops had been hit as well, and were now being treated within one of the evacuation vehicles.

The two remaining Knightmares had joined her on the ground when they realized that there was a need to create a defense perimeter around the escaping students. They could not go on the offensive now. It was too risky because frightened students were still trickling out of the Academy.

Her comms crackled. "What's taking the backup team so long?" the Knightmare pilot to her left complained. "We can't take much more of this. There are too many of them. "

"I know."

Gritting her teeth, she moved and blocked another barrage of plasma pulse with her radiant wave shield. Despite being blocked by the shield, the attacks reverberated through the frame. It was nothing like being attacked by an army of Britannian Knightmares. It was worse. She suspected that the base matter which made up the plasma pulse wasn't something the Knightmare Frames had been designed to counteract efficiently.

Finally, when she thought that she would die from the frustration of having to stay put, the ground troop signaled her. The evacuation was now complete and the two vehicles sped away. Pulses of plasma headed towards them as they moved but Kallen quickly intercepted the attacks.

She activated her comms, linking her to the other two Knightmares. "Come on, guys! Let's take them down!" she ordered.

"More than happy to!"

"Let's go!"

Engaging their Float Systems, the three Knightmare Frames leapt up in the air and began an all-out counter-attack. The enemy forces darted around swiftly, neatly avoiding the beams from the Knightmares. The exchanges of blows were relentless but Kallen pushed on. To her dismay, she noticed that the enemy's reaction time was almost inhuman and worse, the Knightmares were outnumbered about three to one.

"Spread out," she instructed.

As she floated backwards, she noticed that the flying crafts were now interspersing their plasma pulses with something different. They were small and she could not make out their exact shape from behind the cockpit. Activating her long-range attack mechanism, she began to fire energy bolts at the oncoming attackers. As before, her targets were moving so fast that her blasts appeared to go through them. One blast finally hit and the craft wobbled mid-air before it spun down to the ground. Kallen noticed that like the others, no one had ejected from the damaged craft. The designer must care nothing for the pilot's life. What sort of person would expect their underlings to operate such dangerous crafts?

Another round of plasma pulses came her way. She engaged her radiation shield immediately, causing the blasts to bounce off. However, before she could regain her bearing, a loud bang sounded in the distance and to her horror, she saw one of the other Knightmares spiraling down to the ground with a trail of black smoke behind it. The devicer ejected and flew off but the frame itself crashed and exploded.

"Anko! Are you alright?" she called out.

"I'm fine. Sorry about that."

"Find the evac team."

Glad that Anko was alive but furious at the loss of yet another Knightmare Frame, Kallen charged straight into the thick of the enemy formation. Plasma pulses shot past her and she used Guren's speed to avoid being hit as she got closer. She grabbed the first craft she reached and forcibly tossed it down to the ground. Without watching it crash, she ducked a plasma pulse and swiped another craft out of the air. This was more like it, she thought with grim satisfaction as she did the same with two more. Guren was undefeatable at close-range.

Unfortunately, it did not last. Clearly comprehending her tactics, the other remaining crafts backed away swiftly. To her annoyance, they kept their distance as they continued to fire with increased intensity, preventing her from moving towards them.

The next thing she knew, something hit her Float System. She cursed out loud as she worked to stabilize Guren. With the Float System compromised, she knew that it was no longer able to fly and had to descend. She landed heavily on the ground, the impact jarring her bones. Before she could take a single step, her communication device crackled and a voice came through.

"Q-1. Shoot at the craft at 3 o'clock and immediately at 11 o'clock and then move right 100m."

Kallen sucked in a sharp breath at the sound of the familiar tone.

"Move, Q-1!"

"W-What?" She glanced to the right. "But that's straight at the Academy! They'll destroy the buildings."

"Do you want to live?"

"Wait-!"

"Don't question my orders. Shoot and move. NOW!"

Her limbs reacted seemingly of their own accord to obey his instructions even though her mind continued to buzz in disbelief. Just as she moved away, the ground where she had stood on just a moment ago exploded, scattering tarmac all over the place. She then found herself in the passageway between two buildings. Numbly, it dawned upon her that she'd narrowly missed being blown up.

What was going on here? Was she hearing things? Was she going crazy?

_Or was that actually Lelouch? _

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:elle6778:


	3. Act 3

Disclaimer: Code Geass is created by Sunrise, directed by Gorō Taniguchi, and written by Ichirō Ōkouchi. This fanfiction had been written for entertainment purposes only and without intention of infringing upon any copyright.

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**A Noble Act by elle6778 - Act 3**

Guren CIII was hidden in the narrow gap between the main Academy building and an ancillary block. Kallen's ragged breaths were loud in the cockpit as she ran a hand down her sweaty face. This Zero sounded nothing like the one she had been avoiding lately. Was she just hallucinating or what?

"Zero?" she called out tentatively.

Silence greeted her. Closing her eyes, she hissed through her teeth. What was she thinking? This was not the time to be distracted. There was who knew how many more of those things out there. She could not afford to sit here getting lost in the past. It didn't matter who had given the orders earlier. What was important was she had to get out of here in one piece.

With that thought, she inched her way along the passageway until she reached the opening. There were sounds of fighting and she needed to get back out there. When she peered out, her lips parted in surprise.

It was the Knightmare Frame she'd caught a glimpse of during the execution parade two years ago. Right now, it was up against ten enemy crafts. All of them were firing at him in tandem and she saw the pilot deploy a cloud of what was unmistakably the Gefjun Disturber in response. As far as she knew, none of the Japanese researchers possessed the resources to recreate Rakshata's design. They had not been able to reverse engineer the Gefjun Disturber either, since all the devices had been destroyed either in the final battle or by Lelouch's administration.

She expected the crafts to fall out of the sky like flies, but to her surprise, the Gefjun Disturbers had absolutely no effect on them. Those elliptical discs continued to dart about as they fired plasma pulses at the Knightmare Frame. The pilot seemed to realize the same thing because the Disturbers were disengaged soon afterwards.

It was fast, she thought as she watched it zigzag in the air to avoid being hit.

There was an odd rumble in the air as the Knightmare Frame paused. Two barrels descended from its chest and fired something in quick succession. Almost instantly, the targeted crafts wobbled and in the next second, they imploded and disappeared from sight.

Kallen gaped in astonishment. It was almost as if the enemy crafts were vaporized. Frighteningly, it reminded her of the FLEIJA system which took out millions of people in a blink of an eye. Only, this one was much smaller in scale but clearly made up of many more warheads.

Who was this?

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Jeremiah kept his eyes on the monitor in front of him as he fired off another round. The readings took another dive the moment the warhead was discharged, sending a button flashing orange in warning. He could afford another round and that would be it. The moment the gauges indicated that it was ready to deploy, he discharged another one. As before, it hit the final enemy craft and the target vaporized in an instant.

Finally, he thought with satisfaction. It'd been a frustrating battle because none of the usual methods worked and he'd been forced to use something that he'd promised himself he would save for emergencies. Well, he supposed this could be classed as an emergency.

Now it was time to check if the Guren, or rather a new version of Guren, was safe. He had been tasked to make sure she stayed alive, after all. He pulled back a lever and Ares descended smoothly. When he landed, Guren was staring at him and he could just imagine the wariness on the devicer's face. This was the second time this Knightmare Frame appeared in public and he had no doubt that she recalled the first time she'd seen it. He wondered what she made of it.

Deploying his wheels, he drove forward but before he could reach the other Knightmare, Guren backed away warily. Ah well, she either accepted his assistance or she didn't. It was her choice.

"I'm only trying to help," he told her rather impatiently.

"Who are you?" she asked.

It wasn't a surprising question but he wasn't sure if he was meant to answer it. "A friend. Now do you need any help or shall I leave you to it?"

Guren's pilot said nothing for a few moments. And then, "I'm fine."

"You landed pretty hard earlier," he pointed out.

"My Float System is damaged. But nothing else." After a pause, Guren's pilot continued, "Thanks for destroying those things. Do you know what they are?"

Jeremiah frowned. He didn't but someone else might. "No. First time I've seen them."

"Then how do you know what to do?"

"What is there to know? Just shoot."

"So who sent you here?"

"My master."

"And who is that?"

Now that was a surprising question, he thought drily.

His internal comms bleeped an alert, and a familiar voice came through. "Her backup is heading your way. Make sure you're not seen."

He switched to the internal system. "Understood." Reactivating the external comms, he told Guren, "Look, I've got to go. I believe your backup is arriving soon."

Before Guren's pilot could say another thing, he leapt into the air and activated his Float System. Knowing that he still had some ways to travel, he pushed a lever to change his almost empty sakuradite energy pack to the alternative backup. Ares jerked once at the conversion of fuel and then leveled out once more.

Well, he'd done what was asked of him. Now it was time to go home. Smiling, Jeremiah steered the Knightmare Frame back to China.

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When Kallen had entered this meeting room two hours ago, she'd been confused and had even doubted her sanity just a little. However, ten minutes into the meeting she was certain that she hadn't been imagining things. The man in front of the room today couldn't possibly be the same as the one who had stood there two days ago. This man punctuated his words with sweeping gestures and he spoke as if he expected everyone to obey him without question. The familiarity of his motions was almost eerie and her fingers itched to rip of his mask to see underneath.

What should she do about this? Whatever it was, she would have to wait until this was over. This meeting took precedence over her personal issues.

Only two areas had been attacked earlier today; Ashford Academy and a retail mall at the other end of Tokyo. The attack at the mall had commenced just five minutes before the one at Ashford Academy. As the squadrons posted in Tokyo had been closer to the mall, all of them had converged there, which explained why she had no backup. The leaders of the squadrons were in this room to present their reports and from what she could tell, their experience with the intruders was similar to hers. They had a worse situation to contend with though, since theirs was a public area and there were many more civilians moving about.

Zero had listened to their narration of the events silently and thoughtfully. His lack of reaction seemed to suggest that he wasn't surprised. He also hardly reacted when she told him about the Knightmare Frame that had appeared to help her. Did he _know_ that this was going to happen?

At the end of it, all he said was, "It's good to know there are ways to take them down."

"But we don't even know what sort of blast that Knightmare discharged at them," she pointed out. "How would that help us?"

"It means they are not invincible." He paused, and then added, "In fact, they are weak."

Kallen blinked at him, confused. Was he for real?

"They are faster than anything we've fought against, which makes it difficult to hit them. And it'd taken countless direct shots to sink one," Ougi said, clearly disgruntled. "Not to mention there are so many of them. I can't see their weakness."

"You also haven't seen anyone piloting the crafts, have you?" Zero asked.

Kallen shook her head, noticing that the rest did the same. Her eyes widened as an idea hit her. Could it be…

"It's because they're drones," Zero confirmed.

"Drones?" Tamaki echoed. "What? Like robots?"

"Exactly. The research team will dismantle the crafts to learn all they can." Zero assured. "In the meantime, just be unpredictable and taking them down should be simple."

Simple, he said, Kallen thought irritably.

"Your relief teams are out there now, so you should take the opportunity to rest. You'll take over from them in a few days," Zero finished. "You're dismissed."

Chairs scraped against the concrete floor as the squadron leaders stood up. A rumble of conversation began as they filed out of the meeting room. She made sure that she was at the end of the crowd and when the person in front of her crossed the threshold, she closed the door behind him and locked it. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath to calm herself. And then with her eyes opened, she turned around to face her leader.

He said nothing about the locked door.

In a measured voice, she instructed, "Take off your mask."

Zero did not react. He simply stood there staring at her through that damned visor. What was he waiting for?

She injected threateningly, "I mean it, Zero. I want to see your face."

"Why is this so important?" he asked in a voice tinged with curiosity.

And was there a hint of amusement? The notion that he found this funny only made her more suspicious. His _tone_ was enough to convince her that this one was a different Zero than the one who had been around for the past two years. But it really Lelouch under that mask?

When she continued to wait for him unflinchingly, he continued mildly, "Why do you work for Zero?"

Her lips thinned. He had asked her the same thing before. "Because I share Zero's ideals," she replied curtly. "But that's a different issue. I want to know if you're someone I know."

"And if your curiosity is not satisfied? If I refuse to display my face?" he asked almost tauntingly. "Would you resign? Would you abandon your ideals and your responsibility?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Who are you?" she countered in a hard voice. "You're not getting out of this room until you show me your face."

"Is that a threat?" A bark of deep laughter filtered towards her. "You're willing to risk a reprimand for insubordination just to see my face?"

Irritated now, she glared at him. Nothing she said fazed him and he knew it. With a careless shrug, he strode to the door with unhurried steps. Even the way he _walked_ made her suspicious. She needed to know. He would not be allowed to just walk out.

With that thought, she moved to block his path.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he queried haughtily.

Doubt flickered briefly across her mind but she tamped it down viciously. When she said nothing, he tried to push past her. Not intending to allow him to leave, she reached out. The moment she grabbed his right arm to twist it behind his back and then pressed his front against the closed door, she knew that something wasn't right. The limb encircled within her fingers wasn't Lelouch's scrawny arm. This felt more like Suzaku's arm but then, if it was Suzaku why was he acting so different lately? No, that couldn't be right. If this was really Suzaku, she would be kissing the floor painfully by now.

Right?

What the hell? She couldn't stand not knowing any longer. Besides, she'd gone too far to backtrack.

Reaching out, she pressed the release button and yanked the helmet off Zero's head. As a shock of familiar black hair tumbled around his head, she spun him around roughly to face her. Before she could lose her nerve, she hooked her finger on the dark cloth mask and yanked it down to reveal a smirking face.

A muffled sound left her lips as she stared, torn between surprise and disappointment. The face was all wrong. The nose and jawline were wider than she'd expected to see and his eyes were brown. He might even be considered handsome to some, but to her…

He was just a stranger.

The stranger quirked a brow. "Satisfied now?"

A jolt went through her at the unfiltered sound of his deep voice. His voice and the way he worded things were still sounded like Lelouch. Was he a relative or something?

"Or perhaps you wish to molest me further?" he taunted, fingering the edge of his cloak.

She blanched in mortification. Damn it, this was a big mistake. "Um…"

His gloved fingers unclasped his cloak and dropped it, revealing his skin-tight outfit. Spreading his arms out as if to present himself to her, he demanded, "Shall I undress for your inspection?"

"NO!" she sputtered in shock as her eyes ran over his body. That could not possibly belong to Lelouch. And when she realized that her eyes were tracing the subtle outline of muscle beneath the fabric, heat crawled up her face. "No. Look, I'm… um…" she trailed off uncertainly as she tore her traitorous eyes away. This was terrible.

His arms fell to his sides. "So? I'm still waiting for an explanation for your behavior."

She winced. What could she say, really? That she had suspected that Lelouch had returned from the dead and decided to resume his leadership of the Black Knights? That just sounded preposterous. And right now, her stupidity had probably landed her in enough trouble that she didn't need to give Zero a further reason to question her sanity.

"I'm sorry," she apologized contritely, absolutely hating how she had to grovel despite knowing that it was her own fault to begin with. "It won't happen again."

"The damage is already done," he pointed out. "Do you think a simple apology would suffice?"

He had to rub it in, she thought irritably. Outwardly, she muttered, "Well, what else can I do?"

He gave her an imperious look, one which instantly swept away her discomfort and enhance her irritation to full-blown annoyance. She straightened her back and stared him in the eye aggressively.

"Look, Zero-sama. It was a mistake and I've apologized," she told him tersely. "It's all your doing anyway because your entire personality suddenly changed. Everyone has to be curious about who's the new person underneath the mask."

"Perhaps," he said indifferently.

She could not help it; she glared at him. Still, knowing that she'd better remove herself before she made matters worse by losing her temper, she bit out, "I need to go."

However, when she tried to move past him to the door, his fingers clamped around her upper arm in a surprisingly firm grip. Tensing at the contact, she raised her eyes to his face to find him _much _too close for comfort. His eyes seemed to be drinking her in, almost as if he had never seen her before and was trying to learn everything about her in one glance.

Swallowing hard, she blinked up at him. "What?"

Something seemed to flicker in his eyes and then he released her to take a step backwards. Calmly, he remarked, "There's the matter of your punishment."

Her eyes rounded as she choked out in disbelief, "P-Punishment?"

He nodded once. "Now, it makes no sense for me to fire my best pilot but I'm sure you don't expect me to suffer this indignity without exacting some sort of retribution." His lips curved into a smirk which looked strangely familiar and yet so different. "I'm demoting you."

She gasped. "Wait a second!"

"For a week," he interjected. "You'll serve under Toudou's command for the duration of your punishment."

Knowing that she was cornered, Kallen scowled darkly at him. "Fine," she forced out. "Now can I leave?"

He gestured at the door. "Of course. Have a safe journey home."

Biting her tongue lest she said something she would regret and gave him an excuse to worsen her punishment, she slid past him, unlocked the door and all but ran out of the meeting room. As her feet took her further away, she swore she could hear the sound of that maniac chuckling.

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Suzaku paced up and down the room impatiently.

It was a plain room with four off-white walls, one door and not even the tiniest window. There were openings high up in the walls that housed the ventilation vents but it was impossible for him to squeeze through those. The construction of the walls, ceiling and floor was solid which meant that he could not physically tear his way out either.

With an irritated groan, he sank down onto the futon, which was the only piece of furniture in the room. Needing some explanation as to how he had ended up here, he ran through what he could remember. After the briefing that night, he'd gone to pick up some food. Half an hour later, he'd locked himself securely in his room, changed out of Zero's outfit and ate. The last thing he recalled was lying down in bed hoping that he would manage a full night's sleep without nightmares.

He dragged a hand over his mask-less face. The mask had been such a constant thing in his life lately that he actually felt naked without it. But what was more significant was the fact that his kidnapper now knew who he was, and that was surely not a good thing. Kururugi Suzaku was supposed to be dead.

He wracked his brain in the attempt to discover what he might have missed. Considering the circumstances, he must have been taken while he was in his room which meant that someone had access to it. Was the person already waiting there when he went in? His eyes widened at the realization that whoever it was had seen him when his defenses were completely down. He'd showered, changed, ate and slept without realizing that someone was watching him.

A muffled sound outside the door brought him to his feet. This was his opportunity. Tensing, he rushed to the side of the door and flattened his back against the wall. The door creaked open a second later.

Without pause, he tackled the person and sent both of them crashing to the floor.

And then he stilled when the identity of the person he was flattening became clear.

"Anya?" he exclaimed incredulously.

As he stared, his captive managed to free a hand to brush her pink hair to the side before she turned to look at him over her shoulder. "Yes."

Not really understanding what was happening, he asked, "What are you doing here? Where have you been all this time? And why am I here?" And why was she not surprised to see who he was? The answer was obvious, but it was difficult to wrap his head around it.

"I'm completing a task," she told him impassively.

He frowned. "Who asked you to do this?"

"Jeremiah."

His eyes widened. "He's alive? You've been with him ever since you disappeared?"

"Are you going to let me go?" she asked instead. "It hurts."

Realizing that he was squashing the much-smaller girl, he quickly lifted himself off her. "Sorry. Are you alright?"

Anya stood up and looked at the floor. "I brought you food."

Only then did he notice the spilled juice, a sandwich and some biscuits. His stomach growled in response at the wasted food. How long had he been here? He was positively starving. Despite his stomach's urgings, however, he needed some answers. Had Anya kidnapped him? Was that her _task_?

"Who brought me here?" he asked.

"I did."

Wariness made him tense again. "Why?"

"I'm completing a task."

He groaned in frustration. "Where's Jeremiah?"

"I don't know."

At a loss, he stared at her silently. So what now? Shake the answers out of her? Or escape? A quick glance at the door told him that it was ajar. Whoever that was in charge of the operation clearly didn't know Anya very well, or rather, Anya's lack of common sense. There was one obvious thing to do, then.

In a flash, he had Anya in a chokehold. Ignoring her gasps and his own sense of guilt, he pushed past the door with his 'hostage' in front of him. Surely, someone would appear and sound the alarm, but hopefully by that time, he would be well on his way. He would deal with the issue of his compromised disguise as Zero later. The important thing now was to free himself.

She tried to struggle free from his grip but he held fast. "L-Let go!" she choked out as they stumbled down the empty hallway.

"Don't make me hurt you," he warned.

She tensed at his words and then thankfully stopped resisting. Determined to free himself from captivity, he quickened his steps, forcing Anya along. He reached the end of the hallway, and then looked left and right.

"Which way is the exit?" he asked.

Anya jerked her head to the right. He didn't know if she could be trusted, but as far as he could tell she wasn't the lying type. He guessed he just have to risk it. He turned right into another empty hallway and then stilled when a voice called out behind him.

"Suzaku."

He snapped around only to have his breath catch in his throat at the sight that greeted him. The man standing at the other end of the hallway wore a familiar violet outfit but his face was clearly visible.

In a shaky voice which betrayed the wealth of emotion welling up in his chest, Suzaku exhaled, "Lelouch, you're alive."

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:elle6778:


	4. Act 4

Disclaimer: Code Geass is created by Sunrise, directed by Gorō Taniguchi, and written by Ichirō Ōkouchi. This fanfiction had been written for entertainment purposes only and without intention of infringing upon any copyright.

* * *

**A Noble Act by elle6778 - Act 4**

It was good to see Suzaku again, Lelouch thought as he stared across the table at his old friend. He wasn't sure if Suzaku felt the same, though. Even though half an hour had passed since he'd appeared before the brown-haired man, Suzaku a still wore a shell-shocked look. He supposed it couldn't be easy to face the man one thought one had killed.

Lelouch's gaze shifted to the dining table. The simple fare laid upon the wooden surface remained untouched. Reaching out, Lelouch took the bottle of wine and filled the glass in front of Suzaku.

"Drink something," he urged casually.

Suzaku blinked once and then looked down at the glass. His expression seemed to clear a little. He took it and downed the whole thing in one swallow, exhaling loudly as he slammed the glass back onto the table. There was a demanding expression on his face now.

"What's the meaning of this Lelouch? I stabbed you through the heart," he said tersely.

Lelouch smirked. "Disappointed that I'm still alive?"

"NO!" Suzaku scowled. "No, but I'd like to know if this is all part of your grand master plan."

"Is that important now?"

Suzaku stood up, sending his chair crashing down loudly behind him. Planting his palms on the wooden surface, he glared across the table. "Do you have any idea what I went through after I stabbed you? Did you think that it was _easy_? Did you think that I carry on after that like nothing had happened? And not to mention Nunnaly. She _cried_ for months after that! She couldn't forgive herself for doubting you, for calling you the devil. So, do you think that's important, Lelouch?"

Chest twisting at his friend's words, Lelouch quickly glanced at his sleeve and began to adjust his cuffs absently. His tone betrayed none of his emotional state when he replied, "I kept nothing from you. We discussed this at length. You knew you had to kill me. You knew what to expect."

"That doesn't make it any better!" Suzaku burst out.

"Regretting your part in it then?" he asked mockingly.

That was clearly the last straw.

Incensed, Suzaku leapt across the table and the next thing Lelouch knew, he was knocked onto his back and was staring up at a pair of furious green eyes. Suzaku was obviously trying to control his temper and to be honest, Lelouch felt a little worried for his person. His old friend could hit like nobody else he knew. Nursing a bruise wasn't at the top of his to-do list.

"Feel better now?" he asked calmly in the attempt to diffuse the situation.

Suzaku blinked slowly, and then as if realizing what he was doing, he jumped to his feet. Dragging his fingers through his hair agitatedly, he began to pace up and down the dining room, leaving Lelouch to pick himself up from the floor. That did not go very well, he thought. Seated back in his chair, Lelouch studied his friend contemplatively. No, he wasn't oblivious to the fact that this couldn't be easy for Suzaku or anyone else who suspected what had actually taken place during Zero Requiem. Still…

"What happened to moving on? We agreed that that's what you'd do," Lelouch voiced aloud. "Dwelling upon the past has always been your problem."

Suzaku snorted derisively. "And what if the past appears right in front of my eyes?"

Ah, that. "I'm afraid it can't be helped. Sometimes, things don't go exactly as planned."

"I don't know how your mind works." The brown-haired man sighed heavily. "Will you tell me _how_ you're alive at least?"

Lelouch looked away, staring into an unseen spot on the wall as the past flooded his mind. "I expected to die. I was ready for it." He chuckled dryly. "Hell, I deserve it. However, the next thing I knew, I woke up and found myself in pain but alive. It sure was a surprise."

"B-But how?" Suzaku asked in bewilderment. "I wanted it to be quick, so I… I stabbed you in the heart."

Lelouch leaned back and pressed a hand to his chest. "Funny how things work out, isn't it?"

Suzaku frowned. "So you're not telling me, then."

"Maybe some other time."

"Aren't there enough secrets between us?"

Lelouch chuckled. "That was in the past. I'm not building up a new cache of secrets between us."

The look Suzaku gave him was full of exasperation. Finally, he dragged a chair from the table and sat down. Eyeing him across the table, Suzaku asked, "I take it you appeared because of the attacks on UFN territories?"

Lelouch stared at his friend. How much should he divulge? "I've made plans to come out of hiding for a while now."

"Why?"

"Things had taken an unexpected turn," Lelouch explained.

Annoyance flared across Suzaku's face. "Stop being so damned cryptic about everything and just explain."

"Some things need to be adjusted and once I figure out a way, I'll discuss it with you. I just need to get things back on track. Be assured that I'll be gone before you know it."

"Wait a minute!" Suzaku jumped to his feet. "You're not leaving again?"

Lelouch smiled wryly. "I'm a dead man, Suzaku. And you know dead men don't wander about freely, right?"

Suzaku stared at him.

"Don't worry," Lelouch assured. "Like I said, I'll be gone before you know it."

As long as his plan worked out, he added silently. But as he'd said to Suzaku, things didn't always turn out perfectly as planned.

000

* * *

000

Kallen darted a sideway glance at the tall figure standing in front of the main monitors. He was focusing intently on the views of Spain under attack by those same grey drones. Britannia had been attacked just a day after Japan, but their numerous military personnel managed to eliminate the threat. It hadn't been an easy battle, from what she'd heard.

This fight in Spain was a different matter altogether. She did not know how he'd done it, but in the three days between the attack on Japan and today, Zero had managed to come up with a way to deal with drones. The speed of his reaction to the crisis was astounding and she couldn't help but wonder who he was. Clearly, he'd taken over from Suzaku to deal with this issue they were facing. So if he was here, then where was Suzaku?

She shifted her eyes to the monitor. Like the rest of the team leaders, she'd been instructed to be present for this little viewing in the Command Central. Zero wanted them to _learn _how to handle the drones from the example set by the other country. Besides the team leaders, the Japanese and Britannian research teams were also present.

"Is that it?" Tamaki exclaimed as another drone went dead and free-fell out of the sky with a white line of smoke trailing behind it. "I swear I shot at them just like that but it didn't have any effect."

"I guess Spain might be using a different sort of blaster," Ougi said as he eyed Zero speculatively.

Her eyes were immediately drawn to their masked leader again. Clearly, she wasn't the only one who was suspicious of the sudden change in Zero. Ougi had always felt that he was responsible for the rest of them following Zero, because he'd been the first one. So now, he was doubly suspicious of everything Zero did, even though he knew that the person under the mask was a different person.

Toudou frowned as he said, "That looks like water."

Zero's deep voice cut through the space, "It's a mix of liquid and solid nitrogen."

"Impossible," Kallen muttered, giving him a stunned look. "I had to fire so many rounds of energy discs to destroy them and you're telling me a single shot of _slush _works better?"

She had the impression that he was smirking smugly when he explained, "The Spanish troops are not firing at random. They are aiming at a specific spot on the drone's shell."

He picked up and controller to focus on a flying drone, drawing her attention to the craft. Magnified many times over, Kallen could just about to make out what looked like a thin line running front to back on the underside of the elliptical drone.

"Fortunately, we managed to collect several drones which were relatively intact from the attacks on Japan and Britannia. The research teams pinpointed this weakness rather quickly. Here, exposure to temperatures below negative one hundred degrees Celsius appears to disable the drone's operating system," he explained.

"How did Spain know about this?" Ougi asked, clearly baffled.

Kallen turned back to their masked leader. It was strange how she couldn't seem to keep her eyes off him. She had seen his face and confirmed that he was neither Lelouch nor Suzaku. So why the interest? Perhaps her subconscious just couldn't trust a stranger. Perhaps she was watching him to see if he would slip up.

Zero shrugged one shoulder. "I told them."

"I'm surprise they managed to react and outfit their Knightmare Frames so soon," Toudou commented.

Lloyd chuckled. "Zero gave us the intel and Britannia put it to good use. It didn't take long to upgrade the Knightmare Frames. Still, the attachments are temporary, so they could be better." He gave Zero a pointed look and continued, "Since we were so rudely rushed, there's only so much we can do."

"After that, it was a simple matter to lend Spain the upgraded Knightmare frames once they were completed," Cecile supplied. "The frames made it there just in time to intercept the attack."

Tamaki crossed his arms over his chest, looking annoyed. "Okay, fine. Spain and Britannia have their fancy weapons to fight the drones. What about us?"

"Worried about being left out?" Zero teased.

Tamaki turned red. "Hey! It's not fair that they have it and we don't! We should have the first shipment of those new weapons. Especially since you're the one who solved the problem," he burst out indignantly.

"The problem is far from solved," Zero said, his voice turning grim. Then he turned back to the front. "But behold!"

Kallen's brow twitched as he swept an arm out towards the monitors in a regal gesture and announced, "Your upgraded Knightmare Frames."

The explosion of murmurs drew her attention away from him. Their Knightmare specs were being displayed on one screen after another and the Black Knights' squad leaders moved further forward to study their own frames. Left at the rear of the crowd, she scanned the monitors until she found Guren. Each arm now sported long canisters which she suspected contained a slush of liquid and solid nitrogen.

Suddenly, the back of her neck prickled in warning.

Before she could turn around, a deep voice froze her in place. "You were staring at me."

She tensed further. "I don't know what you're talking about, Zero-sama."

"So formal," he murmured so close that she could feel his warmth against her back. "And don't lie."

She ground her teeth together and forced herself not to turn around. Why give him the satisfaction of seeing her react? She wouldn't give him another excuse to punish her. Hell, the whole idea of being demoted like that still send her blood pressure rocketing up.

"You've been staring at me every time we're in the same room."

"It's your imagination," she bit out tersely. "I did no such thing."

He let out a chuckle. "Try to control your obsession with me, would you? Or people will start gossiping about it."

An indignant gasp left her and she spun around with the full intention of yelling at him, only to find that he had turned to go out of the room. Glaring at his retreating back, she clenched her hands into fists at her side as she tried to control her mounting irritation.

Damn that infuriating man. When this was over, she hoped that he went back to wherever he'd come from. She would be glad to see the last of him.

000

* * *

000

Lelouch released the lock and his helmet depressurized with a hiss. Dropping the familiar object on a hanger in Suzaku's room, he pulled down the black fabric mask covering his face before he detached the digital prosthetic face. The suction pads held on to his face for an uncomfortable moment before they came off. He sighed in relief when cool air washed over his skin. The next time he attended a meeting, he would make sure that the meeting room was cooler. Having to wear so many layers of masks wasn't ideal but it was necessary.

The thought of the meeting made his lips quirk in amusement. Lelouch chuckled out loud as he visualized the horrified look on Kallen's face when he'd accused her of staring at him. He'd almost forgotten how easy it was to rile her. The woman possessed such an aggressive nature that it would have been impossible for her to brush his teasing off. It'd been too tempting to resist and he'd given in to the urge to play with her a little. All he succeeded in doing was to remind himself of how good things had been when she'd been his personal guard so long ago.

But was he really teasing? It had been a warning too. The more perceptive ones probably already suspected that he wasn't the same Zero. Still, as long as they kept their curiosity under wraps and did not expose him, he didn't care. It would only be inconvenient if they took some form of action like Kallen had done.

Well, there wasn't much he could do about that issue until something happened. For now, he had other things to check up on. Picking up his phone, he entered a speed dial number. It rang for a short while before someone picked up.

"Yes, it's me. Have you done it?" A pause followed as he listened. "Good. By the way, can you check up on the contractors? I want to know where they're at with the rest of the projects. The timing is getting tight since we have to move up the schedule." He smiled as he heard the reply. "Yes, I know and I'm grateful. Let me know if there are any problems."

And he hung up. Things were chugging away in the background as he'd expected, which was good. He would rest better once the tasks he'd set the contractors were completed. Or perhaps that was asking for too much. After all, these attacks had happened much earlier than he'd predicted.

He made another call.

"Aa. It's me. The UFN reps are arranging to meet but the date and location is not confirmed."

A familiar voice reached him from the other end of the line, and Lelouch nodded. "I'll let you know. Just stick to the plan. So how are you coping with things over there?" He listened to the exasperated grumbling from the other end of the line. Grinning, he replied, "You know what C.C. is like." A surprised brow rose. "She's there too? I guess that means Jeremiah is with you as well. What are the lot of you doing in my house?"

He groaned inwardly as he received the answer to his question. That place wasn't meant to house so many people. He feared to think of what state it would be in when he returned. "Did any of you remember to water the vegetable plot?" He rolled his eyes at the response. "Stop making excuses and just do it. They'd better not be dead when I get back. I'm hanging up now. Some of us have better things to do than fool around all day."

Despite the irritated tone he'd used with the other man, when he hung up he was smiling. It was as he'd thought. Suzaku needed some time away to just be _himself_. The burden of pretending to be someone he wasn't couldn't be easy. All too soon unfortunately, he would have to come back and play an important role in this battle.

A knock sounded on his door. He stared at it and then at the visored helmet, wondering if he should ignore it. Making up his mind, he stood and hid the prosthetic in his pocket before he pulled on the fabric mask and the helmet. Only then did he open the door.

Kallen stood there, holding out something.

"You left your cloak in the meeting room," she told him evenly.

He took it. "Thank you." Unable to resist, he teased, "You know that you don't need an excuse to visit me, right?"

The speed at which her cheek reddened was almost comical, and Lelouch had to fight the urge to laugh out loud. No doubt if he did that she would retaliate with physical force and even though he was no longer as weak as he'd been, he knew that he wasn't able to defend himself against a trained fighter.

"I didn't come here because I want to!" she protested heatedly.

"Oh? Someone forced you then?" he asked.

Her eyes narrowed. "It's Saturday night so everyone's busy. They all have… things to do."

"And why aren't you doing the same?" he asked lightly despite his curiosity. "Single girls like you usually go out and party on weekends, isn't that right?"

Her blue eyes clouded at his words, as if she was remembering something unpleasant. Lelouch instantly felt a stab of concern. What had happened to her while he was away? Had someone hurt her?

"What's wrong?" he queried cautiously.

She blinked and the darkness in her expression melted away to be replaced by the earlier annoyance. Lelouch decided that he preferred this than her previous expression. Still, he made a mental note to find out what she'd been up to for the past two years. He'd deliberately avoided doing so because he knew that he shouldn't allow himself to get too close. He knew that as far as attachments went, the ones he had with Nunnaly, Kallen and Suzaku affected him the most.

"Nothing." She took a backward step. "I'd better go. It's late."

"Sure you don't want to stay?"

"No!"

"Your loss then."

In a terse voice, she bit out, "Have a good night, Zero-sama."

The formal address did nothing to hide her displeasure and this time, he let out a chuckle of amusement. She tossed him a glare before spinning around and striding away.

000

* * *

000

The sound of her alarm beeped loudly, pulling Kallen from a sleep disturbed by images of masks and smirking lips and hot body against her back. Needless to say, by the time she managed to pry her sleep-encrusted eyes open, her mood was far from good. And it was all his fault. Ever since he'd taken Suzaku's place, she'd been suffering from restless nights. She couldn't believe that he even dared to plague her sleep when he was miles away in the Administration Complex.

Throwing aside the sheets, she stomped to the en-suite bathroom for her morning ablutions. By the time she pulled her uniform on, she was less grumpy and was beginning to realize just how ridiculous she was behaving.

Just how shallow was she? Just because someone wore that very same mask, it didn't mean that her attention should be drawn to him. It was different when it was Lelouch because well, it was Lelouch. And Lelouch had always managed to bring out the best and worst in her.

She huffed loudly, annoyed and impatient with herself. The next time she saw Zero, she would be nothing but professional. She would ignore the way he so effortlessly tried to rile her. After all, it didn't matter who he was. The only that was important was his ability to produce results and as far as she could tell, that was something he was fully capable of. Everything else should be irrelevant.

Right. Now that that was settled, it was time for her to get to work. She was due for a briefing in forty-five minutes and she didn't want to be late.

Half an hour later, she was striding along the hallway leading to the assigned meeting room. Much to her surprise, Toudou was heading in her direction. She halted when they reached each other.

"Zero said you'll be under my command this week," he said without preamble.

Kallen resisted the urge to blush in mortification. "Yeah. That sounds about right."

The man frowned, clearly confused. "What happened?"

So Zero didn't tell him? "I did something he didn't like," she admitted grudgingly.

Toudou glanced over his shoulder warily, as if to check if anyone was there to hear him. "You do realize that lately, he's... different."

What an understatement. Outwardly, she nodded.

"He's making things happen. I don't want to say this, but this almost reminds me of the time when Lelouch vi Britannia was Zero."

"I know. But Lelouch is dead." Ignoring that usual pang of sorrow, she continued on drily, "I can assure you that it's not him under the mask."

He gave her a stunned look. "He showed you his face?"

She held his gaze. "I sort of took the mask off him."

Toudou looked at her as if she was crazy and she didn't blame him. On hindsight, it was a stupid move. It was probably the reason why Zero had taken to riling her these days. Demoting her clearly wasn't satisfying enough. He had to make sure every second she spent in his company was uncomfortable.

Eventually Toudou shook his head and his lips quirked in amusement. "Thanks to you, at least I know for sure. Even though I knew he's not Suzaku, I couldn't be sure if the Britannian prince has come to life somehow."

"You knew it was Suzaku?"

"How could I not? I recognize every move he makes. I trained him after all."

Kallen realized that this was actually the first time she'd spoken to anyone about Zero's identity. She guessed she wasn't the only one who felt as if she should hold back. Perhaps the topic was something everyone hesitated to broach for the fear of shattering the illusion. It was almost sad, really. They relied so much on Zero being a figurehead to hold them together, even after so long.

Toudou's voice broke into her contemplations. "You'd better go join the rest."

She gave him a questioning look. "Where are you going?"

"Zero wants me to collect something from Gino."

Surprise shot through her. "Gino's here?"

"He arrived early this morning with something Zero needs. I'd better go get it now."

"Fine. I'll see you later."

She walked past him and made her way to the meeting. Muffled noises filtered from the door and as she pushed it open, the voices became more distinct. Her eyes immediately focused on their leader. Once again the guys had left the seat to his right empty in anticipation of her arrival.

Zero looked up the tablet he'd been working on as she sat down.

"Good morning," she greeted politely. Impersonally.

He inclined his head in acknowledgement and then resumed whatever he was doing. Kallen found herself irritated by his subtle dismissal even though she shouldn't expect any kind of special treatment from him. He was a stranger and to him, she was just an underling. Right? But wasn't it the same with Lelouch?

Of course not. Lelouch was her friend as well, wasn't he? Then again, that time when she'd asked, he'd never answered her question so she never really knew what he thought of her.

She was being ridiculous. What happened to her resolution this morning? She had to quit thinking about Lelouch. This was _Zero_, the leader of the Black Knights which now formed the Japanese military force. He was her superior and she should treat him as such.

"Lost in thoughts?"

She jumped at the deep but quiet voice. A perplexed glance at Zero showed her that he had his head down and was running his fingers over the touch screen. Was he talking to her?

"Yes, I'm talking to you."

She couldn't stop herself from directing a scowl at the side of his masked head. Did he possess a mind-reading Geass? That could explain how he handled things so well. In a stiff voice, she chided, "It's not nice to pry into other people's thoughts."

It was almost like he was smirking underneath the mask. "I didn't read your mind."

She wasn't sure if she should believe him. "Then how did you know what I was thinking?"

"Your face is like an open book."

But he wasn't even looking at her! However, before she could open her mouth to retort, the door opened and Toudou walked in holding an envelope. As if he was waiting for that, Zero stood up and the room went silent. Anticipation and excitement filled the faces around her and she realized that they _needed_ this. They needed this sense of being led by someone great like him. It didn't matter who was under that mask.

Or did it? Something had been missing when Suzaku took Zero's place but that _something _was back now.

The projector behind him came to life and he began. "What you see before you are the locations where you'll be station at in two hours. Each location has its own strength and weaknesses and your team leaders will brief you as to what they are. What these places have in common is that they're popular public places, and therefore prime targets for our enemies. If and when an attack happens, you will split up in two formations as briefed by your team commander." His tone hardened perceptibly. "Civilian casualties are to be expected. Don't let it distract you. Your priority is to capture, and if that fails, destroy the enemy forces."

A wave of murmurs rumbled through the room until Zero held up a hand to silence the Knights. "We will stop them from destroying our world but to do so, we need information about them. And-"

He broke off when the door opened slowly. While everyone turned their head to see who it was, Kallen kept her eyes on Zero and watch his entire body tense. How strange. Why was he so worried?

"Oh, I'm sorry to interrupt," said a gentle voice.

Zero seemed to be rooted to the spot. A little baffled by the reaction of the usually unflappable man, Kallen turned to look at the door. It was only Sayoko with Nunnaly in her wheelchair, smiling widely at the occupants of the room until her eyes reached Zero. Surely he knew who she was. Considering his personality, she wouldn't be surprise if Lelouch himself had picked this man to step in should such emergencies arose.

"Zero. When this meeting is over, can I please have a word with you?" Nunnaly asked.

Zero didn't respond even though it was clear that he was looking at the blonde girl.

Kallen nudged him with her elbow. "Zero?"

It had the desired effect, for it snapped him out of his strange mood. His tone was impassive when he finally responded in a neutral tone, "I'll see you this afternoon at four."

"Four?" Nunnaly's brows furrowed in confusion. "That's almost seven hours away but I guess it's alright. Sorry. I didn't realize you're so busy today. Perhaps tomorrow is a better day for you?"

"I'll see you at four," he told her briefly.

Kallen noticed that Zero said nothing else until Nunnaly had left. Only then did he continue the briefing.

"First Squadron will be stationed here in Tokyo…"

In spite of his brisk and succinct instructions, she could tell that there was something distracting him. His behavior was nothing short of suspicious and it made her wonder how it was related to Nunnaly. It was just too bad that she would be in the field today. If not, she could perhaps do a little spying.

To her dismay, she realized that her mind had wandered into prohibited territory again. Giving herself a mental smack, she forced herself to focus on work and listen to Zero. Whatever that was going on between Zero and Nunnaly, it was none of her business.

However, staying indifferent was a little more difficult that she'd anticipated. When Zero sat down fifteen minutes later, she could not help but notice that his hands were not quite so steady.

000

* * *

000


	5. Act 5

Disclaimer: Code Geass is created by Sunrise, directed by Gorō Taniguchi, and written by Ichirō Ōkouchi. This fanfiction had been written for entertainment purposes only and without intention of infringing upon any copyright.

* * *

**A Noble Act by elle6778 - Act 5**

Lelouch stared at the small screen in his palm. He'd turned the volume right down but that didn't matter since the images of Nunnaly were crystal clear. He'd been in Zero's room with the volume on the last time he'd watched it and he'd been able to hear each of her gentle words as she spoke to Suzaku. Disguised as Zero, his old friend had asked her why she had chosen to stay in Japan instead of returning to Britannia with Cornelia. Lelouch's chest had contracted with emotion when his sister had said she wished to live there because it was where her brother had worked so hard to bring peace and freedom to the world.

It was a miracle that he'd managed to avoid her for as long as he had, but the last thing he expected was to be ambushed by her presence in the middle of a meeting five days ago. Seeing her in the flesh like that was a shock. He missed her so much and he wanted nothing more than to meet her as she'd asked and just _speak_ to her.

But that was impossible.

Nunnaly would know who he was the moment they started to converse properly. He could put on twenty masks and she would still know who he was. If Nunnaly found out that he was alive she would want to keep him there by her side. And he would be sorely tempted to stay. Now _that_ would be the height of foolishness. Returning here for a short period to resolve this mess was one thing. Staying long term was another. The longer he remained, he suffered a greater risk of his cover being blown. If anyone knew Lelouch the Demon Emperor was alive and well, Zero Requiem would've been for naught.

He sighed inwardly. The act must go on and when the curtains came down, he would bow out and leave Suzaku to step back into Zero's shoes. It would be difficult to walk away from everyone again but he had no choice. Sacrifices must be made. He would miss this, though. And he would miss Kallen and her feistiness.

"Zero-sama!"

He switched off his palmtop device and turned to the technician gesturing for him. For the last five days, they'd been gathered in Command Central to monitor the situation in Japan following the deployment of the Black Knight Squads.

The young man said urgently, "Wakayama castle is under attack!"

Lelouch's eyes narrowed in ire. The enemy knew that attacking such a place represented a direct blow to the culture of the country and that it would spark maximum outrage from the civilians. He focused on the map of Wakayama. Ougi's Second Squadron was the closest and he could see that some of the Second's Knightmare Frames had already made it to the castle.

"Get me visuals from the Knightmares in front."

The many screens mounted on the wall in front of him flashed with images from the cameras on the Knightmare Frames. It was difficult to see through the motion blurs but that was unsurprising since the frames were speeding about. Still, he could just about make out that the enemy drones seemed to appear suddenly out of thin air.

"Access the castle's security feed," he ordered.

A blue-haired technician pounded on the touchpad in front of her. "In a second." After a minute of furious work, she announced, "There!"

Feeds from the static cameras appeared on the screen. Almost blinded by the sea of flying pale grey discs, he watched carefully for the appearance of any new drones. As with earlier and the footage from other countries, he noted that they materialize from nowhere. Such a thing was impossible, so there must be a logical reason to it. At the moment, he couldn't think of any technology that could allow that, but he knew someone who would know if there was.

Perhaps it had something to do with the smear of blood they'd found in each of the captured drones. Tests had concluded that the blood belonged to a woman of Caucasian background. Her genetic markers were currently being investigated and compared to those in the international database. The problem was, Lelouch knew that not everyone's DNA profile was logged in the system. His, for one, was certainly not there.

"Zero-sama! Tokushima is also under attack!" one technician called out urgently.

Akiko's Fourth Squadron should be right on top of that. Before he could say a thing, another technician interjected, "Zero-sama, drones are appearing in Yamaguchi."

"Show me," he told them. No one was stationed there. What was in Yamaguchi? After he'd scanned the aerial map of the prefecture, he turned to the comms technician. "Atsuchi, get hold of Tamaki." When Tamaki's image appeared on the screen, he instructed, "K-1. Head towards Kintai Bridge in Yamaguchi. Now."

He watched the screens as the Third Squadron sped towards Yamaguchi. Before long, they were engaged in battle with the bulk of the Knightmare Frames spread out in a defensive formation around the targeted areas, ensuring that no drones could come close enough to fire upon the old bridge or to crash on top of it. The Knightmare Frames blasted the drones with their new nitrogen weapon, sending the drones dropping out of the sky like dead flies.

However, despite the three squadron's best efforts, the drones kept coming.

Frowning, Lelouch sat back and considered the situation. It didn't make sense for the enemy to keep sending drones since they were all getting shot down. So why? Puzzled, he studied the movements of the squadrons on a map of Japan intently.

A moment later, he muttered a curse. "That's what they're up to. Ayame!"

The Head of Defense turned to him expectantly. Futaba Ayame had been in this position for years and was an expert at what she did. "Yes, Zero-sama."

"Raise a Level 1 shield around the Administration Complex," he ordered.

Her eyes widened but she executed his command without further ado. In seconds, alarms cried through the interlinked buildings within the Administration Complex. A buzzing sensation vibrated through the walls as the shield formed a large dome around the area.

"Atsuchi, get me a link to Toudou."

Toudou's face came up on the screen. "Zero-sama?"

"Form an _Omega _perimeter around the Admin Complex."

"I don't see anything around us. Are we expecting an attack?"

"Aa"

"Understood."

As Lelouch ended the call, he hoped that whatever that was coming this way wouldn't hold too many surprises. If the enemy only deployed drones, resolving the issue would be simple. However, he doubted that this would be the case. The enemy was cunning enough to attempt to manipulate the situation so that there was only one squadron left to defend the Administration Complex. This suggested that the enemy had an extensive information network.

The complex-wide comms crackled soon afterward and Ayame's voice announced, "We're on a Level 1 security lockdown. All personnel to stay where they are and observe the appropriate procedures..."

Lelouch allowed her to continue without interruption, trusting her to do the right thing while he studied the airspace above Tokyo. As he'd instructed, the dark blue triangles denoting the Black Knights coalesced into _Omega_ formation around the complex.

Then blips of pale grey began to appear at the outskirts of the radar. He grimaced as more appeared in quick succession. So far, it looked as if they were just drones.

But for how much longer?

000

* * *

000

High up in the sky in Tokyo right above the Administration Complex, Kallen maintained her position. It was weird being under someone's command, even if it was someone as celebrated as Toudou. It was so strangely easy to just follow orders. It reminded her of the time when Naoto was still around.

"Stand by, First Squadron," Toudou ordered. "They're heading right at us. Kouzuki, you're ready?"

"Yes, Taichou!" she replied.

This new formation was not something she'd known about previously and she wondered if it was Toudou's personal one. It certainly wasn't one they'd practice during the Black Knight's training sessions, but it was one she was sure to remember. While the bulk of the squadron formed a defensive perimeter around the complex, she and several others made up flexible attack 'wings'.

The grey drones was appearing one after another in the horizon and were advancing quickly towards their target, which happened to be the cluster of buildings under the First Squadron's protection. Kallen found herself tensing as adrenaline rushed through her. She couldn't wait to take them all down.

"Q-1, advance. Take N-1 and N-2 with you."

"Understood, Zero. Jun, Kira," she called out. "Let's go."

"We'll flank you," Kira returned.

The three of them went forward and plasma pulses whizzed past her Knightmare Frame as she ducked and dived. Then Kallen began to fire her nitrogen weapons at the drones' weak points. It was ridiculously simple to destroy them with the right weapon and the knowledge of what to aim for. A small number if drones were getting past them but she was certain that Toudou's defense line could handle the stragglers.

However, despite their efforts to eliminate the ranks of the enemy, those drones just kept appearing. Frustrated at their persistence, Kallen could only carry on shooting while wracking her mind to think of a way to get rid of them once and for all.

"Zero, they keep coming," she reported. "Instructions?"

"Maintain your position, Q-1."

Impatience shot through her but she obeyed. It wasn't as if she had any other ideas. Suddenly, her eyes caught sight of flashes of yellow. Frowning, she darted a glance to her right to find that three new drones had appeared. These were not quite the same as the rest. They were several times larger and bulkier.

"What are those?" she asked out loud.

"Probably the same things, just bigger," Jun said. "Let's take them down."

Jun sped forward, firing continuously at the yellow drones as she advanced. Kallen arced to the other side, discharging the nitrogen slush as she did so. To her consternation, the new drones seemed to be unaffected by her attacks.

Her comms came on and Toudou's voice reached her, "Kallen, Kira, Jun! Pull back."

"What? But-"

"Q-1, don't question orders."

She was about to snap back a caustic response when she saw it. Several grey drones were converging on each of the larger yellow drones. As sparks appeared at the intersections, these grey drones grinded together and merged until they formed what looked like arms and legs attached to the yellow torso. As Kallen watched with growing unease, round objects emerged from the yellow drones and on each, two red eyes blinked.

Kallen stared incredulously as the limbs began to move, not missing the fact that combined drones were all larger than the average Knightmare Frame. They were almost the size of the Gawain.

"Q-1, N-1, N2, prepare your shields."

"Understood, Zero," Kallen responded as she brought up her shields.

"Be careful," Toudou said. "We don't know what these ones are capable of."

Kira's voice came through. "I'm not getting too close. I'll just shoot from here."

Once Kira began shooting, it became clear that the blasts could no longer reach the grey drones' weak points. They were attached to the yellow craft in such a way that that particular area was unreachable. That wasn't good news. But when the amalgamated drone frame began to float forward, Kallen spotted a potential weakness and a grin spread across her face.

"B-1, maintain the defense line. Q-1, lead the offence," Zero instructed, clearly noticing the same thing. "N-1, N-2, go with Q-1."

"Got that, Toudou? I'm moving out now with Jun and Kira," Kallen announced.

"Understood. Retreat if you encounter excessive resistance."

When the first new enemy craft came close enough, Kallen used her energy wings to swat at it. What looked like laser swords appeared from one of its arms and the red blade came slashing down at her. Kallen blocked it with her armor and instantly retaliated with her Radiant Wave Surger. It took hold and with a bright flare, began to destroy one of the limbs. Realizing what was happening, the enemy instantly detached the eight grey drones which made up the affected limb. The ejected parts exploded mid-air, leaving the main body completely undamaged.

The next thing she knew, eight new drone sped towards it and in mere seconds, it had a new limb.

"Unbelievable!" Kallen hissed angrily as she charged again.

"Q-1. Attack the yellow body."

Yeah, she knew that. Since there were only three of those yellow bodies, it would be rather difficult to replace them when damaged. Besides, it seemed to be in control of the grey drones.

"Damn it! I'm shot!" Jun's voice came through. "Sorry, guys!"

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Jun ejecting from his damaged Knightmare Frame. The immediate entry of Toudou's Knightmare Frame into the battle told her that he was taking Jun's place. With a surge of determination, she charged forward and ducked another slash of laser. Without pause, she kicked out at the yellow torso but the thing managed avoid the hit. Her Guren's foot connected with the drone's left leg instead, shattering it. As expected, the damaged part was instantly disposed.

"Not so fast," she hissed as fresh grey drones converged upon the big drone.

Before the grey drones could reach the yellow body, she lashed out with her radiation arm. The drone's laser sword connected with her armored left arm but she didn't withdraw. Instead, she hit its chest with her right arm and boosted the radiation wave output to its max.

It was too late for it to withdraw. Affected at a molecular level, the enemy drone exploded in seconds. The larger-than-expected shockwave jarred through her, and at the same time it took out several smaller grey drones nearby.

"Q-1?"

"I'm fine," she answered.

Looking around, she saw to her surprise that the enemy forces were thinning down. The grey drones retreated and then disappeared from their sight. Far below her, broken pieces of the transformed drones laid on the ground.

They'd once again been successful but how many more surprises did the enemy have in store for them?

000

* * *

000

The battle above the Administration Complex had been a close one. Too close, in Lelouch's opinion. The enemy was clearly intelligent and was a worthy adversary. It meant that he had to return to China to settle a few things and talk to a few people through a secure line. It was important that he sped things up or else this might end badly.

With a sigh, Lelouch pulled off his helmet as he settled into the seat in his Knightmare Frame. The Shinkirou II was almost a twin of its predecessor but with a number of additional features added over the past two years. The most distinctive addition was that it could now fold itself into a flatter shape to aid flight and travel through water.

"Ready?"

He glanced to the side to find C.C. giving him a mildly impatient look. So they were still at it, huh? He'd thought that it would blow over by now, but he was clearly mistaken. The girl had been cold towards him ever since he'd announced that he would join the fight. She would simmer down eventually, he supposed.

"Lelouch?" she prompted icily.

"Aa. Let's go."

Already folded into a shape of a craft, the Shinkirou II started up and sped down the narrow tunnel. This particular tunnel connected the Administration Complex to one of the old disused metro tunnels and would eventually get them to the coast. There, the newly constructed exit would allow them to enter the international waters between Japan and China.

When they reached the disused metro tunnels, C.C. slowed down and broke the silence. "You must be happy to see her."

"Who?"

"Her."

They'd agreed before he left that he should avoid being close to Nunnaly, so C.C. must be referring to Kallen. It was strange of C.C. to bring this up, though.

"Jealous?" he teased as he darted a sideways glance at her.

There wasn't even a twitch of emotion on her face when she said, "No."

"Then why ask?" he countered.

She didn't bother to answer. Instead, she leaned back and said, "You pilot this thing. I've done it all the way here. I'm tired."

Shaking his head in exasperation, he leaned forward and keyed in the necessary instructions. The Shinkirou sped up again in response and they soon reached the sea. The underwater journey to China was made in silence but that was not unusual. They were comfortable enough with each other to give small talk a miss. Besides, he needed to think. And plan.

Once they reached land, Lelouch navigated the Shinkirou along an underground tunnel until they reached their destination. Relieved that they'd finally arrived after all those hours of travel, he stood up and stretched. As he climbed out of the cockpit into a large windowless underground space, he noted that nothing had changed in his absence, which was good.

A silent C.C. followed him upstairs in the small lift which brought them straight into a hidden cupboard linked to their respective bedrooms. When she disappeared into her room without a word, he wondered if the situation was worse than he'd thought. C.C. had cautioned him against getting involved in this crisis but he'd ignored her advice. Perhaps she was still furious about it? But she should understand that this wasn't something he could sit by and watch without doing anything. In any case, it was too late for him to back down now. He was already involved, and would remain involved until the situation was resolved.

When Lelouch reached his bedroom, the first thing he did was to remove the trappings of Zero and clad himself as a farmer. Only then did he venture out into the common area in the small country house. Suddenly impatient to go out, he went to the back door and pushed it open. The fresh country air hit him and to his amusement, he realized that he actually missed this. Strange, considering he'd been away for barely two weeks. When had he turned into a country bumpkin?

Suzaku was working in the vegetable plot between the house and the paddy field. Lelouch grinned as he made his way there under the blazing sun, watching as his old friend looked up. Under the rim of the straw hat, he saw Suzaku returning his smile.

"Lelouch!" he greeted as he propped an elbow on the handle of the rake. "This is a surprise."

He stopped in front of Suzaku. "I have something to do here." He scanned his vegetable patch. "They're still alive."

Suzaku snorted. "I have to keep them alive unless I want to starve. You forgot to mention that there are no supplies readily available."

"There's less contact with outsiders this way. I can't be putting everyone under Geass." He swept an arm around the space proudly. "Anyway, this is all we need."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this from you," Suzaku remarked wryly. "I had you down as the pampered prince."

"Aa. That was a long time ago." Lelouch bent down to pluck a few wilted leaves off the tomato plant. "Things are different now."

"Not so different, considering what's happening out there," his friend said in a darker tone. "How are things after I left? We didn't really get a chance to speak when I took your place to see Nunnaly that day."

Feeling anxious, Lelouch straightened to look at his friend. "Did Nunnaly suspect anything?"

Suzaku shook his head. "I doubt it. She seemed normal to me. Why? Did she seem suspicious when she saw you?"

"I only exchanged a few words with her when she interrupted the meeting. Not enough to make her suspicious, I hope."

"Why are you only worried about Nunnaly recognizing you but not the rest? You've been in close contact with everyone else."

Exhaling loudly, Lelouch replied, "Because with Nunnaly, it's personal. She doesn't care about me being Zero or the 99th Emperor or anything like that. If she knows I'm alive, she would make me stay and I would be tempted to. You know I can't do that. It's different with the Black Knights. After what had happened back then, they should understand that my identity is less important than the results of my presence."

"And what about Kallen?" Suzaku gave him a shrewd look. "You can't say there's nothing personal between the two of you. Surely she suspects by now."

His lips quirked in amusement. "She took a good look at my face, and to her I'm just a stranger."

"How did…" Suzaku's eyes widened in comprehension. "Oh, you've made up some new prosthetics."

He nodded. "Speaking of which, since I need you back in Japan soon, you should have one as well. Just in case someone decides to tear your mask off."

Suzaku groaned. "The mask is bad enough and now the prosthetics?"

"This is supposed to be a punishment, remember?"

Suzaku's expression clouded. "I know."

Both of them fell silent. Lelouch wondered if they would ever forget the bloodbath that had taken place on all sides prior to this era of relative peace. He suspected not. Alone, he'd been responsible for thousands of deaths, if not more. It had been necessary of course, but sometimes it was hard to think of it. His recollection of this only fuelled his determination to maintain what they'd worked so hard for. This time round it was likely that there would be more sacrifices, but in the end it would be worth it.

He broke the silence by asking, "Where's Jeremiah?"

"Jeremiah? At home, I presume."

Nodding, Lelouch said, "I'll call him."

"What exactly are you back for?"

"The system here is untraceable, unlike the one in Japan. I need to get in touch with a few people and they wouldn't appreciate their identity and whereabouts being leaked. The timing is getting rather tight since I've had to move up everything significantly because of the attacks."

"How much more is outstanding?" Suzaku asked.

"That's something Jeremiah should be able to answer," he said as he took out his phone and dialed. "Jeremiah? What's the progress?" He listened. "So we have another 35% to go. Any luck with locating the enemy base?" He took in what Jeremiah said about the materials for the drones originating from Germany. What was significant of Germany? He ran an impatient hand down his face. "We're running out of time. They're getting more aggressive which doesn't help. Shooting them down one by one using the nitrogen slush is too slow." He paused as Jeremiah spoke, and then nodded. "Maybe that's the thing to do then."

When he hung up, Suzaku asked, "What's the thing to do?"

Lelouch crossed his arms over his chest and tapped his fingers thoughtfully. "We might need to outfit some of the Knightmares with upgraded weapons."

"I thought you've done that."

Lelouch shook his head. "Another line of weapon. But we will need a certain someone's help for that."

"Tsk!" Shaking his head, Suzaku added, "Just a cryptic as ever."

Smirking, Lelouch raised a hand and said, "Well, I've things to go through downstairs, so I'd better start now. Dinner later?"

"You're cooking?"

"Of course. I will not trust the wellbeing of my stomach to you. I'm surprised you haven't poisoned yourself yet."

As Suzaku choked in affront, Lelouch grinned and turned to walk away. Before he even stepped into the house, his friend called out.

"Oh, by the way, your _Si-fu_ was here yesterday looking for you. It's the second time and he's not happy."

Lelouch's grin disappeared and he slapped a hand to his forehead. An image of a wizened old man with a white goatee came to mind. Between everything that was happening, he'd forgotten his weekly sessions with the cranky old man. And as cranky as he was, the old man probably had some nasty punishment up his sleeve for the next time they met. If he hadn't Geass-ed his _Si-fu_ already, he would do it if only to stop the old man from beating him up. Unfortunately, the currently active Geass only ensured that he would not divulge any information which might lead to them being discovered. This was all Jeremiah's fault for suggesting that he could do with some minimal training to defend himself when Geass wasn't an option.

There was humor in Suzaku's voice when he continued, "He said to tell you that the next time he sees you, you'll be in for an interesting session."

Lelouch groaned in defeat.

000

* * *

000

After the attack on the Administration Central, the final two days of her posting in Tokyo were uneventful. Floating in her Guren, she'd spent the time discussing strategies with Toudou through their comms, something which reminded her of what a talented fighter he was. Of course, during the discussion she'd not-so-subtly pried battle techniques out of him.

Still, she was glad to be back in command of her own team. Unfortunately, her temporary transfer hadn't gone unnoticed by them.

"Oi, Kouzuki-Taichou, aren't you going to tell us what happened?" Nobu asked.

Anko piped up, "Yeah. We had to listen to that crazy Tamaki for a week."

"Tamaki's not that bad. It's that right hand man of his that gets to me in a bad way," Kaoru joined in. "I don't understand how he got to be in that position."

"So?" Nobu prompted, giving her a questioning look.

Kallen shook her head. "It's nothing important. And don't worry, it won't happen again." Not if she could help it. All she had to do was to maintain her cool around Zero. Easy.

"Aw, don't be like that. Tell us!"

She shook her head firmly. "Don't you have something more useful to do than to pry?"

Kaoru grinned. "This is more interesting."

Kallen huffed in exasperation. "You really think so? I know what will be better. Go tune your Knightmare Frames. All of you. In an hour, we'll be practicing a new formation." One she'd stolen from Toudou.

The entire left corner of the cafeteria groaned in unison.

"Should've kept your mouth shut, Kaoru," one of them muttered as he snagged a dango from the table.

Chair legs scraped the floor as eighteen people stood up and filed out from this little corner of the cafeteria. Hiding her amusement, Kallen watched as they walked past the other tables and left through the large double door at the end. Shaking her head at their antics, she smiled and picked up an untouched stick of dango from the tray they'd been sharing.

Just as she was about to bring it to her mouth, a dark figure sat opposite her. She looked up and immediately froze when she realized whom it was. She hadn't seen him for more than a week, not since that briefing just before she'd gone with Toudou's squadron. Not sure what to expect, she could only watch wordlessly as Zero reached out for a stick of dango. She blinked in bewilderment, wondering just how he proposed to eat through his mask.

Much to her astonishment, he took his helmet off. And when he went on to pull down the dark cloth covering the lower half of his face, she let out a gasp.

"Wait! You can't-" She broke off when she realized that he was facing the corner in such a way that no one could see his face.

"Do you really think I'm that careless?" he asked with a smirk.

Silently, with her own stick of dango still held in her slack fingers, she stared at him while he chewed slowly. This was only the second time his face was exposed to her, and it was difficult to pull her eyes away even though he wasn't doing anything but eat. When he finished the stick of snack, he put it down and served himself a cup of tea. Propping his elbow to rest his chin, he met her eyes across the table. The impact of those brown eyes was strangely unsettling. She shifted her gaze to a safer place; his hand. With a sharp intake of breath, she suddenly realized that this was exactly how Lelouch used to position himself. It was beyond strange to see something so familiar and yet so different. In fact, this encounter was so strange that she wasn't sure how she should react.

He was regarding her casually, as if waiting for her to speak. Feeling suddenly contrary, she decided that he should be the one to break the silence. After all, this corner of the cafeteria was her squadron's usual haunt. Her eyes went to his hand, once again noting the mildly effeminate pose. It reminded her so much of Lelouch that she felt like knocking his elbow off the table to destroy the look. She knew that she was being ridiculous but she couldn't seem to help it. This new Zero disturbed her. Apart from his height and his hair, he was physically so different that it was preposterous to imagine that he could be Lelouch. For a start, Lelouch was scrawny and physically weak, whereas this Zero was clearly used to physical labor. He'd taken off his gloves and from here, she could see the subtle callouses marring his palm and fingers.

"That's an unpleasant expression."

She jumped at his deep voice and her eyes flew up to meet his. The amusement dancing in those dark brown eyes irritated her further. "Why are you here?" she ground out.

He raised a brow. "I was hungry."

"Don't you care that others might see your face?"

"No one else can see it."

She scowled at him. "You don't usually eat in the cafeteria."

He shrugged carelessly, another move which disturbed her. "I wanted some company today."

She snorted, rolling her eyes. "And you chose to sit here?"

"Why not? You're my personal guard."

Guilt made her avert her eyes. Either no one had noticed, or no one had bothered to tell him that ever since _that_ day, she hadn't spend much time in that capacity. For a start, Suzaku hardly needed her protection and secondly, she didn't want to. Suzaku in Zero's outfit was a constant reminder of the loss that she didn't want to think about. Nothing official had been said, but before he'd disappeared Schneizel had always been by Zero's side.

His voice interjected, "That's an _even_ worse expression. What's wrong now?"

Maybe it was time for some honesty. "I'm no longer your personal guard," she admitted.

His eyes widened slightly. "I see."

She waited for him to say something else, but he seemed to be contemplating something. What was he thinking? What was he planning? Still, she had to admit that he was effective. His recent plans meant that the situation was once again under control, but for how long? And how long would he be around to make sure things stayed that way?

Deciding to be blunt, she asked, "Will you be staying?"

"Staying?" he prompted mildly as he picked up another stick of dango and took a bite.

"I know you just took over a couple of weeks ago. Are you staying for good or will you leave after the situation is resolved?"

His lips lifted in a smile. "What do you think?"

Irritation shot through her again. Why was it so difficult to get a straight answer from him? "I think you'll leave until the next crisis happens."

"Would that make you happy?" he asked.

She glared at him. "The last Zero didn't demote me for a week," she sidestepped.

He grinned, and the sight sent something skittering in her chest. Damn it, what was wrong with her? She could not possibly be having a crush on him, could she? That would be unbearably stupid. He was probably even more unattainable than Lelouch.

But he was alive, a small voice whispered at the back of her mind.

She tamped down on her wayward thoughts and stood up abruptly. "I need to go. I'm due to meet my squadron in the hangar."

"They will be pleased by the new formation," he told her.

Pausing mid-step, she gave him an incredulous look. "How do you know that's what we're going to do today?"

He tilted his head to the side. "I sent you to Toudou, didn't I?"

Wait a moment! "I thought that was a punishment for my insubordination?"

He smirked smugly. "Why waste the opportunity to watch you steam?" And he held a hand up, halting her before she could open her mouth. "You said you need to go?"

Realizing that he'd gotten the better of her, she huffed and walked away. It was unbelievable just how annoying the man was. If he wasn't her leader, she would bury her fist in his face. In fact, one day he might push her so far that she would do exactly that.

Still fuming inwardly, she left the recreational block and made her way through the office area. It was a shortcut that she usually took to reach the hangars. When she walked past a particular room, she was pleasantly surprised to find it occupied. Poking her head in, she waved at the girl seated behind the desk. Sayoko was also there, standing by the sideboard making coffee.

"Nunnaly," she greeted fondly. "Here for a meeting?"

"Yes. I met with the agricultural board this morning. It's so nice to see you here, Kallen. You're usually so busy. Come on in," Nunnaly invited. "We haven't spoken for a while."

Kallen agreed. "Just for a little while. I'm due to meet my squadron."

She sat down opposite Nunnaly, who said, "I have to leave soon too, after a cup of coffee. The flight to England leaves shortly. Cornelia wants me there for her birthday."

"Will there be a big celebration?"

Nunnaly shook her head. "No. It's just a private one. Guilford didn't think it was a good idea to make a public spectacle of it considering the situation right now."

"That's probably wise."

"Yes. It's good that you came this way today. I saw you briefly in the meeting room last week but we didn't get a chance to speak. I tried to find you later but you were gone."

Kallen nodded. "I was deployed soon afterwards. You wanted to see Zero, I remember."

Nunnaly smiled lightly. "It's nothing serious. More personal than business."

"Personal?" she exclaimed in surprise and something roiled in her stomach. This Zero was not Nunnaly's brother. "As in…"

"NO! Not that!" Laughing now, Nunnaly waved a dismissive hand. "Nothing like what you're thinking. It's just that…" Her laughter died and she sobered. "I invite him for a visit once in a while. I think the whole Zero thing gets to him sometimes. He feels trapped under that mask."

"What do you mean?" Kallen asked, a little confused and wondering if they were talking about the same Zero. The latest Zero seemed to _thrive_ on being Zero.

Pouring both of them steaming cups of coffee, Sayoko explained, "It's not easy to fill Zero's shoes. Or anyone's shoes, for that matter."

"You speak as if you have some experience," Kallen said as she sipped from the cup. She knew that C.C. had acted as Lelouch's Zero double in the past, but perhaps Sayoko had done the same as well. "You doubled up for Zero before?"

Sayoko shook her head.

Nunnaly took her coffee and smiled, but the sorrow in her violet eyes was unmistakable. "Lelouch asked Sayoko to act as his double in school while he left to join the Black Knights. I wish I could have seen it but I wasn't at school when it happened. I was with Schneizel then."

Surprised, Kallen ran her eyes over Sayoko. Not Zero but _Lelouch's_ double? "No offence, Sayoko, but I really don't see how you managed to pull that off."

"Thick soles," Sayoko explained and then she tapped her cheek with a finger. "And prosthetics."

Kallen blinked.

"Apparently Lelouch gave Sayoko a prosthetic face to put over her own. I was told that it looked so real that no one at the academy even suspected."

Sayoko nodded in agreement. "Except for one close call with Shirley."

When what they'd said hit her fully, Kallen froze. Prosthetics that was good enough to make Sayoko look like Lelouch in a place full of academy students?

"Oh look! It's time already," Nunnaly exclaimed suddenly. "Sorry to cut this short, Kallen. But we'll be late if we don't go now."

Still stunned by the revelation, Kallen murmured automatically, "Have a good flight."

Soon, she was the only one left in the room.

For a long while, she remained rooted to the spot as her mind whirred with the implications of what they had just told her. She thought back to each and every one of her recent interactions with Zero and took a mental survey of every quirk and gesture she saw. Could it be possible? Could it be really Lelouch down there, under a prosthetic mask?

Determination settled over her and her fists clenched.

She knew exactly what she had to do.

000

* * *

:elle6778:


	6. Act 6

Disclaimer: Code Geass is created by Sunrise, directed by Gorō Taniguchi, and written by Ichirō Ōkouchi. This fanfiction had been written for entertainment purposes only and without intention of infringing upon any copyright.

* * *

**A Noble Act by elle6778 - Act 6**

Lelouch studied the footage from the various attacks across the world over the last week. The levels of successes varied enormously depending on the quality of each country's Knightmare Frames and their devicers. Britannia with their specialized Knightmare Frames had no problems taking down the integrated crafts but countries with standard mass-produced frames suffered greater casualties on their infrastructure. An oddity he'd observed was that so far, there wasn't a single human fatality despite the intensity of some of the attacks.

Still, he suspected that soon the enemy would not hold back and they would have to fight back with all their strength. If only he could solve that _one_ unknown question. If only he knew just how the drones were controlled, he would be so much closer to discovering the identity of his enemy. He had started the ball rolling on a measure that he hoped would provide him with the information he wanted but he would have to wait for the next attack before setting that plan in motion. Kallen would be the best person to carry out this task.

Turning the monitors off, he walked into the bedroom. The sound of running shower reached him through the bathroom door. It looked like Suzaku was awake. The bathroom door hissed just before it slid open to reveal a damp-haired Suzaku. His previously brown hair was now black. Lelouch watched as his friend went to the full-length mirror to peer at his own reflection.

"I'm turning into you," he muttered in disgust. "First it's the outfit, and now the hair as well."

"It's either that or a wig."

Suzaku exhaled loudly. "You appear and suddenly everyone wants to know who's under the mask. For two years, Zero's identity wasn't an issue."

"Your bland personality attracts no attention. Can you blame people for being interested in who I am?"

Suzaku responded with an irritated glare. "Don't you have somewhere else to be?"

He shrugged. "Where? This is where Zero lives. Count yourself lucky I'm not demanding the bed. It's a huge concession for me to be sleeping on the couch," he pointed out. "I'm afraid you're stuck with me until this mess is over."

"There must be a way to get you another room," Suzaku grouched. "I don't like sharing like this."

Lelouch smirked. "Why? It's not like you're bringing women back here."

Suzaku sputtered, giving him an incredulous look.

Waving his friend's reaction away, Lelouch continued, "We'll deal with the room situation later. The envoy from China will arrive in a while so hurry up."

Deciding to give his friend some privacy, he walked out of the bedroom into the adjoining space. There was a small kitchenette in the corner, a round dining table and a row of tall shelves which separated this from the work area. Lelouch sat down at the desk he'd just vacated not long ago and ran his fingers over the keyboard, bringing up the surveillance pictures. Tianzi, Xing Ke and Zhou Xianglin were currently being shown to their rooms in the Guest Wing. The rest was due a little later.

He leaned back as he watched the progression of their guests with little interest. No doubt the focus of the meeting would be on their new enemy, but Suzaku needed to be careful of what he said. It was doubtful that an individual would have the right resources to launch so many worldwide attacks, so he suspected that the enemy had some help. Based on the conversations he'd had with some people, he had an inkling of which country it might be, but not the individuals involved.

After the meeting tomorrow, he might have a better idea.

000

000

"Bye, Okaa-san!" Kallen called out as she shut the door and mounted her bike.

The bike rumbled down the short drive but before it could join the main street, she caught sight of a familiar figure in the periphery of her vision. She pressed a button at the side of her helmet and her visor slid up. The last time she'd seen him was almost a year ago. She supposed he'd been in Japan since then on official business but their paths had never crossed.

"Kanon!" she greeted.

The man with the brownish-peach hair stopped walking when he saw her and a smile of recognition stretched across his face. "Kallen Stadfeld! What a coincidence to see you here."

She navigated her bike until she was by his side. "I heard there's a UFN meeting tomorrow. You're here for that?"

"That's right." Grinning, he pointed a thumb over his shoulder at a house not far away. "And to visit my relatives. Actually, I'm staying with them while I'm in Japan."

"We're sort of neighbors, then." Kallen's eyes widened as she remembered what her mother told her a while ago. "Wait a second. They just moved in not long ago, right? My mother said they'd bought up two plots side by side and rebuilt everything. They're your relatives, huh?"

Kanon nodded. "Distant relatives. I haven't seen them since maybe half a year ago when I happened to be in Germany."

"That's where they moved from?"

"Yes." He grinned. "They like their big houses. It was the same over there. Don't know why, though. It isn't as if there are many of them. Hopefully the construction didn't cause too much disturbance to you."

She shook her head. "They stopped building quite early so it wasn't as if anyone was losing sleep over that. Besides, we're used to the noise. That library…" She inclined her head at a massive futuristic-looking building at the end of the road that looked more like an airship half sunken into the ground. "_That_ went on for almost a year and the noise was terrible. Thank goodness it's now done. I haven't been inside but my mother loves that place. She could stay there for hours."

Kanon eyed the building with interest. "Those libraries hold enormous amounts of digital information. We have quite a few of them with a similar design. I believe there are more in other countries as well. The design must be a recent architectural trend or something."

"Probably." She glanced at her watch. "Oh. I'd better go now or I'd be late."

"I'll see you around."

With a last wave, she drove away.

As she maneuvered her bike down the roads heavy with traffic, her mind went back to her meeting with Nunnaly and Sayoko a few days ago. She hadn't managed to come up with a feasible plan to confirm if Zero was actually wearing prosthetics. Every plan she thought of had major flaws in them, and she was conscious that her punishment would be steeper this time if it turned out that Zero's face was real. If only she could come up with a casual excuse to touch his face. Surely she could tell between real and prosthetic skin. Whatever it was, her actions needed to look casual to him.

Or it needed to be some kind of accident.

000

* * *

000

Ah, there she was.

He had not had a chance to speak to her privately since that day he'd approached her in the cafeteria. Even though the week that had passed was filled attempts to discover the identity of the enemy, he'd missed seeing her. And of course, he missed their verbal sparring. Here in Japan, besides Suzaku, she was the only one who didn't treat him with an overdose of respect. It was refreshing and he seemed to crave it.

She was busy fiddling with Guren. His gaze not leaving her, Lelouch kept his footsteps light as he ventured deeper into the hanger. It was lunchtime so the place was deserted. She was leaning down to oil the Guren's ankle joints. As he got closer to her down-bent head with the mass of red hair, he felt the childish urge to tease her.

"Hm, that's a provocative position. I can just imagine the possibilities."

She immediately tensed and shot up as straight as a board. He grinned widely under his mask when she turned to glare at him. It was funny how often she treated him to such an hostile expression. She'd been more deferential in the past. Well, at least before she found out that Lelouch vi Britannia was Zero. He decided that this was better, though. If he continued to annoy her this way, perhaps she wouldn't develop an attachment to him.

But what about him developing an attachment to her? He could already feel it, but then again that could just be the residue from their past relationship. Who knows? What was important was that he didn't act on it, the way he'd stopped himself from acting two years ago.

"Is there something you need, Zero-sama?" she asked stiffly.

Keeping his tone even, he replied, "You."

Her eyes rounded and splotches of red appeared on her cheek. Unfortunately, the adorable expression was immediately replaced with a dark scowl. "Not funny."

"It isn't meant to be funny. You're the best pilot to execute the task I have in mind," he clarified innocently.

She stared at him for a moment and then muttered, "Oh." After a short pause, she asked flatly, "What's the task?"

"I need my lunch first." He held up a paper bag and shook it lightly. "Perhaps you'd like to share?"

She eyed the bag doubtfully and then up at him. He had the impression that she was weighing the pros and cons of having a meal with him. If he was a less confident person, he would've been offended by her hesitation. Fortunately, he wasn't, so he simply waited for her to respond to the invitation. He was certain that she would accept.

Eventually, she said, "Why not."

He gestured to the far corner of the hangar where a couple of benches were located. "We'll eat there."

She frowned slightly. "We could just stay next to my Guren."

"It's better there, trust me."

She considered it and then assented with a nod. He led the way to the aforementioned corner and sat on the bench right next to a large vending machine. Once satisfied that he was adequately hidden from view, he took off his visored helmet and almost sighed in relief at the fresh air surrounding his neck. If only the prosthetics weren't there.

She sat down and glanced around anxiously. "Someone might see you."

"We'll hear them coming," he said as he pulled down the dark fabric covering his face. "And there are no surveillance cameras focused on this spot."

"You've done your research, then," she remarked drily.

"Of course." He pulled out a sandwich and a box of juice and handed them to her. "Here."

She muttered thanks as she took it. After swallowing a bite, she said, "I've been meaning to ask you something for a while now."

"What?"

"Where's… the Zero before you?" she asked.

Ah, he'd wondered when she would voice this question. He took a bite of his sandwich and swallowed before he returned, "There's one before me?"

She scowled darkly. "You know what I mean. Don't play dumb. So where's he? I haven't seen him for a while."

"I'll inform him of your concern," he told her mildly, even though inwardly he felt a peculiar prickle of irritation.

She jabbed a finger in his direction. "So you _are_ in contact."

He rolled his eyes. "Yes. Of course."

"Where is he?"

That stab of irritation came forth again. "You're so desperate to see him?"

"No!"

"If you need to see him with your own eyes to convince yourself that he's fine, I'll present him to you later. We just have to be careful that no one else sees two of us together."

She frowned. "But you do realize that they suspect, right? The Black Knights, I mean."

"That there are two of us?" he queried. "They would have to be really stupid not to. My... predecessor is not the best actor."

She frowned, clearly bewildered. "Then why risk the swap when you know people would guess?"

"I suppose in the end, it really doesn't matter who is under this mask. Zero represents a better world, that's all. People need a figure to give them hope. The leaders know that. They know that Zero is just a symbol."

"Zero isn't just a symbol," she protested heatedly. "He's not just something that can be discarded just like that."

Finishing his sandwich, he gave her a knowing look. "You're not talking about Zero, are you? But you're right. Zero cannot be discarded. But the person underneath is interchangeable when circumstances call for it. My presence is enough of a proof."

"I don't agree. The person underneath definitely makes a difference," she insisted aggressively. "The first Zero made this all possible. HE made a better world for us." She inhaled shakily. "At a great cost to himself. So don't tell me it doesn't matter, because that's just nonsense!"

He stared at her for a long time without saying anything. When he finally spoke, his voice was quiet, "I'm sure he knows you appreciate it."

Eyes downcast, she murmured, "He doesn't. I... I said..." She trailed off with a haunted look on her face.

She must be thinking of that day. Two days before Zero Requiem, he'd given in to impulse and had her brought to his room. Jeremiah had taken her from her cell and escorted her there. He remembered it so clearly as if it'd happened yesterday. It was unfortunate, because he would've preferred to remember nothing, which meant that it was best to change the topic before his discomfort showed. He should be briefing her anyway, instead of indulging in his personal need to interact with her.

"About the task..." he began.

To his relief, the haunted look disappeared. Anticipation filled her eyes as she waited for him to continue.

Smirking at her bloodthirsty reaction, he reached into his pocket and took out an access key. "The Department of Defense has some devices stored in locker number 956. Collect them. The next time you go into battle, I want you to place these devices on one of the integrated drones without being too obvious, and then let it escape."

She eyed the key thoughtfully as she took it. After studying it for a while, she asked, "They're tracking devices?"

He nodded.

Curling her fingers over the key, she gave him a solemn look. "Understood, Zero-sama. It will be done."

He smiled. "As expected from my best pilot."

Her lips lifted at the corner.

It was time to go. He was conscious that he had to be ensconced safely in Zero's room in two hours while Suzaku attended the UFN meeting. It would not do to be late for that.

"It's time for me to get some results from the R&D department." And he could analyze those while he monitored the meeting from his room. "They should be ready by now."

"Are they the results on the yellow fighters?" she asked curiously.

He nodded. "Most are too damaged, but they found one which has a few parts intact."

She frowned. "I thought only one was completely destroyed."

"The damage was most likely self-inflicted." At her look of surprise, he clarified, "Our enemy knows we've been dissecting her toys and she doesn't like it."

"'_She_'?"

He shrugged casually. "Could be a 'he'. At this point, we're not sure."

"Do you think you can find her then?"

"Yes. We will find her."

She stood up and brushed the crumbs off her lap. He averted his eyes from the sight of her long, exposed legs. He wondered idly if he was the only one who was so often distracted by those legs, or did the rest of the male members of the Black Knight suffered the same ailment.

"Can I come with you? I'm done here anyway and I'd like to see what's going on behind the scenes. Besides, the Department of Defense is right next to Research."

A little surprised by her request, it took him a while to respond. "Sure."

As he masked his face, he could not help but wonder what she was up to. She usually tried to avoid being in his company, and when he was around she was usually quite prickly. It was the first time she offered to go anywhere with him.

Well, he would find out soon enough.

000

* * *

000

It did not take her long to collect the two trackers. They were each the size of a very thin novel, so they were tiny compared to the size of a Knightmare Frame. Handling them with her Guren would be no easy task. She would have to be very careful not to drop them. She understood why they had to be small, though. Larger objects would be too obvious.

With that done, she walked out of the Department of Defense and into the Research Department. Zero was there conversing with the lab technicians. He seemed to have such a way with people. Or rather, they naturally treated him as a leader. She didn't know if it was simply her imagination but she didn't get the same impression when it was Suzaku. Perhaps like her, Suzaku was more of a fighter rather than a leader.

Zero was a leader, _just like Lelouch. _

Accepting a stack of notes from a technician, Zero nodded. "Thank you. Any further information on the DNA profile?"

Kallen frowned in confusion as she came up to them. DNA profile?

One technician shook her head. "We worked our way through most countries' databases but with no luck. There are indications that she might be related to some people in England but it's nothing conclusive so far."

"Get me the names of those she might be related to. We'll figure something out from there."

The technician nodded. "I'll compile the information for you now."

Kallen waited until all of them had left to collect the data before she turned to Zero. "What's with the DNA profiling?"

"We found blood in the drones."

"Blood?" she echoed incredulously. "What does it mean?"

"I don't know yet, but I have some ideas."

"Care to share them?" she prompted curiously.

He shook his head. "Not now."

The technician returned with a different stack of notes, causing Kallen to raise her brow. Did Zero mean to go through _all_ these by himself? There must be thousands of pages of information there to read through.

"That's a lot to read through," she murmured.

A long-suffering sigh sounded from behind the mask. "Aa."

An idea popped into her head and before she could think twice, she offered, "I can help if you like."

He stilled and then turned slowly towards her. "You want to read through these? Why?" he asked bluntly.

She shrugged carefully, hoping that he would not get suspicious of her motives. "Nothing else to do today. If you let me know what you're looking for, I can help you."

He considered her words for a while and then nodded. "Why not? But I'm going back to my room to do it. Come along if you want to."

"Lead the way."

He nodded and then keyed in something into his phone and sent it. Who was he contacting? And why the hell was she so suspicious of him? Then again, she couldn't help it if he kept doing things that looked suspicious.

Her mind continued to whir with thoughts as she followed him out of the research department. She had a plan now. Still, logic told her that she was risking another reprimand and this time, Zero could be angry enough to fire her. Or would he?

Eyes narrowing slightly, she allowed a smirk to form on her lips. Well, he _had_ said that it wouldn't make sense for him to fire his best pilot.

000

* * *

000

They had spent the past hour reading the documents in silence when Kallen suddenly stood up and yawned. His eyes wandered to her smooth midriff, exposed as she lifted her arms to stretch. Something had to be done about her uniform. It was far too distracting.

"Zero!"

His gaze flew upwards to find her scowling at him. "It's a nice view," he defended evenly.

She tugged down the hem of the uniform but there was no mistaking the blush on her cheeks. "Next time, don't look," she snapped tersely.

If only it was so simple.

"I'm getting something to drink. Do you want some coffee?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Sure."

Once she'd walked to the kitchenette, he returned his attention to the papers. He flipped through another page and then stilled when he encountered a familiar face. She was related to _him_?

This must be the link. In which case, the identity of the person whose blood was found on each of the drones was within his grasp. It was too much of a coincidence considering the man's past association together with his relation with the person whom the blood belonged to. The probability of Schneizel being in this enemy's hand had just increased drastically.

Unfortunately, he still found nothing to give him a better understanding the whole purpose of the attack.

The sound of footsteps reached him and Kallen appeared balancing a tray with two mugs. He shifted further along the couch and returned his eyes to the profile of the Britannian officer outlined on the paper in front of him. He could advance this angle but the man might not know much. Alternatively, he could focus on the country that was providing resources to his enemy. How should he approach this?

A loud gasp cut into his thoughts and the next thing he knew, heat radiated over his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Zero!"

Jumping to his feet, he hissed as the hot coffee seeped through the fabric of his outfit. Hell, from the way his hair was plastered to his cheek, some of the liquid had even splashed against the side of his face. Alarmingly enough, he could feel it seeping between his skin and the prosthetic mask. Hoping that his disguise was not compromised, he quickly wiped at his face and shoulder.

A tea towel appeared in front of him, interrupting his movements. He looked to find Kallen standing there, aiming the towel at his cheek.

"Let me help," she offered, looking strangely flushed.

Conscious of the prosthetic mask, he averted his face before the towel made contact with him. "Don't worry about it. I'll do it myself." Seeking to distract her, he gestured to the spilled coffee on the couch. "The couch probably needs some attention."

"The couch can wait. I can help get the coffee off you," she said quickly.

Suspicion shot through him, causing him to tense momentarily. She was too eager to be true, which meant that she had an ulterior motive. Based on her current actions, it wasn't hard to guess what it was. He thought he'd resolved this already. Well, it was time for some deflection, he supposed.

Feigning ignorance, he smirked suggestively. "You can help if you join me in the showers. I wouldn't mind having your hands all over me, cleaning me up. What do you think?"

Her blue eyes widened and two red spots appeared high on her cheeks. "Don't be perverted!"

"Well, you did offer to help."

"To help wipe up, not to jump into the shower with you!" she protested indignantly. "Stop thinking dirty thoughts!"

"And here I am, thinking of getting clean," he mocked as he moved casually towards the bedroom. "Are you sure you don't want to join me?"

She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. "No."

Grinning now, he went into the bedroom and locked the door behind him. And then he shook his head as his grin faded. He'd thought that she was no longer suspicious of him but he was clearly wrong. Something had tipped her off about his identity. He wondered what he'd missed.

Deciding to think over it later, he shrugged off his clothes and went into the bathroom.

000

* * *

000

Suzaku found himself seated between Nunnaly and Kaguya as usual. The debate surrounding the recent attacks was heated as each country voiced their individual opinions. Was Lelouch watching this? He'd better. The question he'd been told to ask was what caused this uproar.

Zero wanted each country to devote a large percentage of their country's resources to fight this new enemy. Larger countries like Britannia, China, Middle East and Russia reluctantly agreed that it had to be done. A few other countries, including France, Germany and Switzerland were against the idea of sinking resources into something that could end up a as a bottomless pit.

Suzaku wondered how this was supposed to help Lelouch figure out which country was involved in these attacks.

Then Cornelia dropped the bombshell. "We received an anonymous communication."

"What did it say?"

"And that our actions only prove to them that the world is following the orders of a known terrorist. That we should cease fighting back or the attacks would intensify. They will begin by destroying our command centers if we carry on this way."

Suzaku tensed. "Terrorist meaning Zero, I presume."

Cornelia nodded grimly. "This isn't the first time they refer to him."

Xing Ke contributed thoughtfully, "Perhaps they have something personal against Zero."

"What if they ask for your surrender in exchange for peace?" the German councilman asked.

"It hasn't come to that yet, Schmidt," Kaguya interjected firmly.

And Suzaku hoped that it would never come to that.

When the meeting ended two hours later, he found himself guiding Nunnaly's wheelchair out of the conference room.

"How have you been, Nunnaly?" he asked. "I heard you arrived with the English envoy."

Her head bobbed as she nodded. "I was there to celebrate Cornelia's birthday." And then she twisted around. "I have some pictures if you want to have a look."

He smiled, even though she could not see it through the mask. Her company was always a pleasure. "Sure, why not?"

"You have a console in your room, right?"

"Aa."

"I can show you there."

He froze when he realized who else was in his room. "Ah, perhaps it's best to use the console in the Command Central?"

Nunnaly shook her head vigorously as she giggled. "No. These are private pictures and I'm sure Cornelia wouldn't appreciate them being seen by others."

"She might not want me to see them," he said quickly, hoping that she would not insist on going to his room.

"She wouldn't mind if it was you."

He felt his cheeks heat as he said, "Ah, it wouldn't be appropriate for you to be alone with me in my room."

Tinkling laughter filled the hallway. "It's only you. I'm sure you won't take advantage of me. Besides, it would be more comfortable there." She reached back and patted his hand. "Your room, then?"

He stifled a groan. How could he divert her without making her suspicious?

"Zero?" she prompted as she gave him an odd look.

"Aa. Let's go," he relented.

He could call Lelouch to warn him. With that thought, he pulled out his phone and dialed. Much to his frustration, his old friend didn't answer. What was Lelouch doing? This was a terrible time to ignore his phone call.

They reached his room sooner that he would have liked. He couldn't hear a sound but that meant nothing. The room was soundproof.

Forcing a casual tone as he pressed a palm to the identity panel, he said to Nunnaly, "I'm not expecting visitors, so the place is a mess."

He swiped the key fob on the panel. Tense with trepidation, he pushed the door and it slid open a little.

He froze instantly when he caught sight of a flash of red hair and stunned blue eyes. Quickly, he turned to face Nunnaly and at the same time, blocked the doorway with his body. What was Kallen doing in his room? She must be there because of Lelouch, but why?

He quickly fabricated. "I need to keep some confidential things away. Wait here."

Before she could say a word, he entered the room and quickly shut the door behind him. Then slowly, he spun around to find Lelouch seated on the couch next to a suspiciously dark stain with Kallen standing nearby. There was a damp towel slung across Lelouch's shoulders and his hair appeared to be recently washed. What was going on in here? It couldn't be what it appeared to look like.

"You didn't call," Lelouch accused.

"You didn't answer," Suzaku hissed back irritably. Deciding to focus on the main problem, he said in a quiet voice, "Someone is outside, waiting to come in. It's Nunnaly."

Slowly, Lelouch rose to his feet and darted an anxious glance at the door. "Why is she here?"

Suzaku rubbed the back of his neck. "Long story."

He eyed Kallen thoughtfully, still trying to wrap his head around Kallen's presence and the condition Lelouch was in. She was staring back and forth between him and Lelouch, and the attention was unnerving. She probably knew who he was under this mask, but since Lelouch's face was covered in prosthetics, she probably hadn't guessed his true identity yet. Suzaku knew that he had to minimize his interaction with Lelouch to keep it that way. It was a good thing Lelouch hadn't overreacted when he heard Nunnaly's name. Kallen was nothing if not suspicious.

To his surprise, Lelouch gestured toward him and said to Kallen. "There you go. He's alive and well."

"What?" he exclaimed in bafflement. "What are you talking about?"

Kallen muttered, "Never mind." And then she pointed at the door. "There are two of you here. What if she comes in?"

"It's fine. We won't be here for long," Lelouch assured as he placed a hand on her shoulder. Then he gathered the paperwork scattered around the couch. "There's a passageway under this room. We'll get out that way."

Kallen gave him a doubtful look but finally assented with a nod. Lelouch picked up a set of spare helmet and mask from the nearby cabinet before moving away from the living area. Still tense, Suzaku watched as she followed Lelouch into the wardrobe at the end of the bedroom. It occurred to him to wonder how Lelouch knew about the hidden panel inside the wardrobe. It wasn't something they'd ever discussed. Lelouch must have access to the blueprints of the building or something. Sometimes, it was hard to believe the amount of information stored in his old friend's head.

"Give me an hour and then come up. Try not to get lost in there."

Lelouch nodded. "I have the map in my handheld."

The wardrobe door shut behind the two of them. Suzaku scanned his room to make sure that there was nothing untoward lying around and then went to let Nunnaly in. She smiled widely when he opened the door.

"You didn't have to tidy up or anything like that, you know," she teased.

He forced out a laugh and then went to help push her into the room.

000

000

Kallen eyed the back of the black-haired head with barely contained frustration as she followed him down the narrow winding steps. Her new plan to help Zero dry his hair died a premature death when Zero-Suzaku appeared.

She scowled. Yes, there was definitely no mistaking that it was Suzaku under the mask. After weeks of being with the new Zero, she could tell the difference between the two easily especially when they were standing side by side. For a start, the Zero was slightly taller than Suzaku but Suzaku was a little more well-built. The physical differences weren't obvious unless they stood side by side like they'd done earlier. Needless to say, their personalities were so different that it was hard to ignore.

So what now? With her first and second plans foiled, she needed to find another chance to catch him unaware. Considering where they were, it shouldn't be too difficult to find an opening. She already had an inkling of something she might be able to explain away as yet another accident.

Zero turned another corner. This network of tunnels was so much like a complicated maze that she'd lost count of how many times they'd turned. She hadn't even realized that these tunnels were under the Administration Complex. But it looked like Zero knew where he was going. One hand held his helmet while the other held his phone with a map displayed on the glowing screen.

"Where are we going?" she asked, her voice echoing in the space.

"There's a chamber further ahead where we can sit and wait."

She ran a hand along the cold concrete wall. The only illumination they had was from Zero's handheld device but it provided them enough light to navigate. Most tunnels ran flat but some had shallow steps built in. One thing stood out, though.

"These tunnels are new," she remarked. "Was this part of the design for the Administration Complex?"

"Aa. They're part of an underground escape system." He turned to her then. "You shouldn't speak to anyone about this."

She nodded, not sure if it was a threat or it was his way of telling her that he trusted her. Considering what she wanted to do, the latter only made her feel guilty. Perhaps it was best to just take action and not think too much about it. The subtle glow from Zero's handheld illuminated the series of steps ahead. She immediately decided that this would be the best place to do it. There were only a few steps and each was very shallow, so it should be fine.

After he'd taken a couple of steps down, she deliberately tripped and lurched forward. A surprised grunt left him as her body slammed into his and brought them both tumbling down to the ground.

The moment she landed on top of him, the ominous sound of something shattering reached her ears and the tunnel was instantly plunged into darkness.

Her eyes widened in dismay.

Oops.

000

* * *

000

:elle6778:


	7. Act 7

Disclaimer: Code Geass is created by Sunrise, directed by Gorō Taniguchi, and written by Ichirō Ōkouchi. This fanfiction had been written for entertainment purposes only and without intention of infringing upon any copyright.

Thanks ever so much for reading and reviewing!

* * *

**A Noble Act by elle6778 - Act 7**

Kallen was on top of him.

Kallen was _straddling_ him, and as inappropriate as it was he could not help his mind from wandering into forbidden territory. It was the same the last time she'd done this to him years ago. He'd reacted fairly much in the same manner then as well. At least this time she was fully dressed and wasn't flashing him tantalizing parts of her assets. She seemed to be fond of doing this to him; the shower, the bunny outfit and just generally appearing in front of him half-dressed or not dressed at all. If only she was as flat as a board and built like a brick, but of course not. She had to have such _notable_…

He interrupted himself with a mental groan. Hell, if he didn't dislodge her, she would soon discover the physical evidence that his mind had sunk into the gutter.

"Get off," Lelouch choked out.

What had gotten into Kallen anyway? She was unusually clumsy. Was this yet another hare-brained plot of hers to unmask him? It had to be. He couldn't think of any other reason for her odd behavior today.

Her fingers feathered over his chest, seemingly seeking something. It only confirmed his suspicions. He turned his face away, barely missing her seeking fingers. Of course she wouldn't be able to discern anything if she touched his cheek but if she found the seam where the mask met his hairline, she would know that there was something wrong. That woman, he thought with increasing ire. Why couldn't she just leave things alone?

"Let me help you," she offered.

"I can get up without your help."

"It's my fault after all."

"So it is," he muttered drily.

"What are you trying to say?" she retorted.

Alright, he really didn't want to resort to what he was thinking of doing. Or maybe he did, but that didn't make it right. Still, from past experiences, it was the only sort of thing that would get her ruffled enough to back off.

Feigning a light tone, he said, "I'm saying it's your fault that we're in a dark place with you on top of me. Should I be worried that you might take advantage and molest me?"

As he'd predicted, she immediately tensed above him. Any time now, she would jump off and snap at him in outrage. And then she would stomp off, completely embarrassed and offended by his remarks. It was practically guaranteed, he thought smugly.

Any time now…

Her voice was quiet when it reached him. "That depends on whether or not you want to be molested, doesn't it?"

His eyes widened at her words. _What?_

"Zero?" she queried huskily, if not a little shakily.

His brain stalled for a moment as he struggled to come to grips with what was happening. Something told him that it was possible Kallen had seen through his move and this was her counterattack. He could back off now by pushing her away and thus offending her pride or he could retaliate another way.

"So what do you say, Zero?" she prompted.

She was clearly issuing him a challenge, not believing that he would do anything. He wanted to drag her down to him and show her just how stupid this move of hers was. Except that it wasn't stupid at all. If it was a stupid move, he wouldn't be here deliberating and not reaching a suitable solution.

_Oh, what the hell! _

Irritation and frustration coursed through him and before he could change his mind, he reached up and slid his fingers around her neck while the other hand circled around her waist. A gasp of surprise escaped her as he forcefully yanked her down until he could feel the erratic puffs of her breath on his face.

"What do you say to this, hm?" he murmured against her lips. "I'm up for more if you are. You just have to say the word."

Under his hands, her body went completely rigid. Lelouch didn't know how he wanted her to respond but it was clear that they were both heading down a slippery slope neither of them could afford to approach. One of them had to back off soon and if she didn't in the next move, he would have to. He really shouldn't be concerned. Taking into account what she'd said to him before Zero Requiem, she wouldn't go so far just to manipulate a situation. Not again, anyway.

"I'm waiting," he said quietly.

There was a pressure against his hold, a sign that she was pushing away from him. She'd chosen to back down. Relief coursed through him but there was also an unmistakable twinge of hurt. So she'd truly meant what she'd said then.

Finally, she announced stiffly, "I don't go around kissing just anyone."

His chest constricted at her blunt confirmation. Forcing out a chuckle, he said, "That's probably wise."

Neither of them said anything for a long while, and then she broke the silence.

"So what now?"

They were back to normal then? Very well. He glanced blindly around the dark space and patted the cold floor. Pieces of what remained of his handheld met his palm and he grimaced. It had contained the map of this tunnel and since it had just been destroyed, it wouldn't be a good idea to go forward as he wasn't familiar with that area just yet. The network of tunnels had been designed to confound any trespassers, after all. It would be best if they went back.

"Do you have your phone?" he asked.

There was a shuffling sound and then a subtle glow lit the tunnel. "Here."

Lelouch found her phone thrust under his nose. He glanced up to find her wearing a dark expression, with her face averted from him. He sighed inwardly, knowing that their earlier interaction had unsettled her. She'd asked for it, though. This really wasn't the time to rehash the topic of his identity but he couldn't help but wonder what he had to do to discourage her from taking further action. Her current plan clearly involved touching him in some way, so perhaps if he allowed it and kept the situation controlled and _impersonal_, she would be satisfied and cease this madness. He would have to be casual about it, so that she wouldn't suspect that he was only putting on an act. But not right now.

Getting to his feet, he eyed the small screen on the phone. To his dismay, he noted that there was no reception. Her phone wasn't geared for tunnels so far down below the ground, unlike his. Speaking of which, he would have to get a new one the moment he left this damned place.

"No reception," he said as he held it out to her.

She rolled her eyes. "I could've told you that."

"Perhaps you would be more careful in the future," he could not help but say.

Glaring at him, she crossed her arms over her chest. "It was an accident, alright!"

In the glow of the phone, he could see her mutinous expression. He wanted to tell her to quit trying to find out who he was for it would serve no purpose, but that would only fuel her curiosity.

With a sigh, he thrust the phone back to her. "Here."

She took it. "What now?"

"Now we find our way back."

000

* * *

000

It was unbelievable.

She was _that_ close to touching his face but she had chickened out. Maybe the next time, she should just grab him and kiss him. The problem was when it came down to it, it just didn't feel right. She had meant it when she'd told him that she didn't go around kissing just anyone. What if there wasn't a mask? What if despite her suspicions, Zero was really a stranger?

Irritated, she glared at the figure moving cautiously in front of her.

Suddenly, the sound of an explosion rocked the air and the ground shook underneath her feet. Alarmed by the rumbling sound from above, she reached out with her arms and braced herself against the wall.

"What's that?" she exclaimed incredulously.

Before he could answer, another louder bang sounded and she stumbled. When the rumbling stopped, she straightened warily.

"Shine your phone around," he ordered.

She obeyed immediately and gasped when she saw a network of cracks on the tunnel walls. "Are we under attack?"

Zero nodded and then glanced up and down the tunnel. "We need to backtrack now."

Kallen nodded and began to run alongside, holding her phone out to provide them with some illumination. He turned when they reached a junction and then another without a single word. She wondered what he was thinking.

"Do you know where we're going?" she asked.

"Yes," he snapped back,

His tone annoyed her. "You don't need so shout," she retorted.

Silence met her, broken only by the sound of their boots hitting the hard floor as they sped forward. And then he hissed loudly. "This is unexpected. I had not planned for this."

She frowned as she continued to run. He sounded stressed for the first time since she'd known him. He was usually so confident that it was weird to see this. It struck her that Lelouch had been the same as well; calm until his plans went awry, and then he would lose his composure. It was yet another similarity between them that made her suspect that it was really Lelouch under there.

"Look, whatever it is, I know you'll take care of things," she finally said in an awkward attempt to reassure him. "You're that type of person."

Breathing a little heavier now, he muttered under his breath, "We'll see."

She darted a sideways look at him. "You're Zero, right? You achieve miracles."

"You think so?" he responded drily. A thoughtful pause followed before he muttered, "What am I missing? The explosion happened roughly underneath the Administration Complex's main driveway."

Her eyes widened in alarm. "The driveway is being attacked?"

"The UFN envoy should be on their way out now," he answered, panting harder now as they continued to run. "That's probably their target."

She glanced to the side to find him falling behind and frowned. This lack of stamina was yet another similarity to Lelouch. But to be fair, Lelouch wouldn't even make it this far. Still, people could grow stronger, right? Or perhaps she was just grasping at straws.

They turned yet another corner. When they reached the access opening leading up to Zero's room, he went past it. The tunnel was sloping upwards now, implying that they were getting closer to the surface. She frowned, wondering where he was taking them.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

Breathlessly, he replied, "We need to get to the hangar." After a beat, he asked, "Is there any reception on your phone?"

"No... Wait! It's blinking," she gasped. "Let's move faster."

She shot forward ahead of him and the reception indicator on the phone grew stronger. "There!"

Catching up with her, he gasped as he asked, "Give me the phone." Taking it from her, he dialed. A moment later, he spoke, "No it's not Kallen. It's me. Are the shields up?" Still tense, he listened for a while and then responded, "First Squadron will maintain their defense formation. And get Zero Squadron to wait for us in Hangar One. Is the Gawain ready to go?" He frowned. "No. You stay and monitor the situation from the room and stop communications with everyone except me. I'm taking the Gawain out."

Kallen guessed that Zero-Suzaku must be protesting because Zero finally snapped, "It's not time for that yet! And unless you want to pilot the Gawain in a battle, you'll stay put. I'm going now. We'll talk about this later."

And he hung up. Without a glance at her, he ordered, "Let's go."

The anticipation of the forthcoming battle rushed through her as she ran alongside Zero, heading for the hangar.

000

* * *

000

There were explosions all around her.

Nunnaly yelped as the blond man picked her up from the wheelchair and dashed across the driveway with Sayoko running alongside. Two towering Knightmare Frames flanked them, protecting them against the massive things with yellow torsos and malicious red eyes. An involuntary scream left her as one of the Knightmares intercepted the grey arm which swung her way.

"Nunnaly-sama, are you alright?" Gino asked, directing a worried glance at her.

She nodded quickly, chastising herself for screaming like a coward and disturbing his concentration. It was hard enough to run and dodge attacks, but he had an even harder job because he had her in his arms. Small craters had formed where the plasma beams hit the ground and he had to zigzag to avoid them. It looked like he was trying to get her back to the main building. Most of the UFN representatives had left the compound before the attack began but she had stayed outside to talk to the Britannian and Russian envoy. Gino happened to be there because he offered to escort her back before picking up his Knightmare frame.

The first plasma beam had landed just as she was making her way back with him and Sayoko.

She looked up at the blond man's grim profile. "Gino, should we just head for the hangars?" she asked. "They're closer."

He glanced at the hangars and then down at her worriedly. "You'll be safer in the building."

She shook her head. "The building is twice as far away. It's too risky."

After a moment of hesitation, he nodded. "Very well."

He changed course immediately. As they neared the hangar, she could see a dense border of Knightmare Frames surrounding it. Knightmares after Knightmares were deployed into the air from the large opening at the end of the hangar as she watched. Rapidly, Gino made for the side entrance and the next thing she knew, she was within the large, cool space. The scent of machinery and oil reached her as he lowered her onto a nearby bench.

While Sayoko went to the nearby window to look out, the blond man remained close by. Gino was unmistakably anxious and his jaw was clenched in a tight line as he surveyed the activity around them. Most of the Knightmare Frames were gone from this hangar but she could see that the specialized ones were still there. The Guren's presence told her that Kallen had yet to join the battle.

Glancing down at her, Gino said, "I'm going to the next hangar. My Knightmare Frame, the Tristan, is there."

"You're joining the fight?"

"Of course."

She nodded. "Be careful out there, Gino. And thanks for bringing me here."

He smiled reassuringly. "You stay here and stay out of trouble, alright? Sayoko will look after you."

And then he was gone.

Sayoko came back and sat down beside her. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Nunnaly nodded. "I hope the rest of the UFN got away safely. How are things out there?"

The kunoichi's expression turned dark. "The enemy crafts are attacking all the ancillary buildings. But the main buildings and the hangars are shielded, so we will be fine. Our Knightmare Frames are shooting down the smaller crafts but they seem to be having problems with the larger ones."

"That's not good," Nunnaly murmured worriedly.

"I know." Sayoko stood up. "You rest here. I'll go fetch something for you to drink."

Nunnaly nodded, knowing that the kunoichi needed to physically do something instead of just waiting around. So she stayed there as she waited for the battle to finish. Anyway, until Sayoko or someone else came to get her she couldn't make her way out of here, at least not without her wheelchair. She had lived with her disability for so long that one might think she was used to it by now. She was, but she couldn't help but wish to be less of a burden to others.

The sound of rapid footsteps reached her and she turned around to look. It was then that she saw a familiar form appearing from the locker rooms with Kallen right behind him. She was about to make her presence known when he called out across the hanger to someone she couldn't see.

"You, there!" Zero shouted.

While Nunnaly frowned at his uncharacteristically terse tone, a mechanic jumped to attention. "Zero-sama."

"Are the Gawain and the Guren prepared? Are their initial checks completed?" Zero asked as he strode closer.

Nunnaly watched him move and noticed that his gait was almost lazy despite the urgency of the situation.

"All done as per orders, Zero-sama."

"Good. We're heading out now."

Nunnaly's frown deepened as both Zero and Kallen mounted their respective Knightmare frames. His tone was so unlike Suzaku's that she was finding it difficult to reconcile what she was seeing and what she was hearing. The years without the use of her eyes had made her ears more sensitive than the average girls' and she could swear that the person under the outfit wasn't Suzaku. But then again, it couldn't possibly be the person she was thinking of.

Perhaps the stress of the situation was getting to her. It wouldn't be unreasonable for Suzaku to speak harshly considering their immediate crisis, after all. Still, she would have to keep her eyes open for any irregularities in the future.

Just in case…

000

* * *

000

Kallen spotted her Guren ahead and made a beeline for it. Before she could move away from Zero however, he gripped her arm.

"You have the trackers with you?" Zero asked.

She patted the pack slung over her shoulder. "They're both here."

"Make you get it on at least one of the integrated drones. We don't know when we'll get a chance to do this again."

She gave him a resolute nod. "I would not disappoint you, Zero-sama."

He was silent for a while, and then he said quietly, "You never do."

As she gaped at him, he turned to make his way to the new generation Gawain. His Knightmare Frame towered over the rest of the other frames. If it was anything like its predecessor, it would be a formidable opponent. Still, she would probably be too preoccupied later to watch it in battle.

Recalling her task, she went up to Guren to make sure that the tracker was safely secured.

In minutes they were both out in the air and in the thick of the battle. Plasma beams from the numerous grey drones crisscrossed through the air forcing her Guren to duck and dive to avoid being hit. In retaliation, she fired off one nitrogen blast after another. She could see one of those yellow and grey humanoid-shaped drones but the air between them were dense with the smaller grey drones.

Undaunted, she continued to fire and push her way through.

Almost there, Kallen thought as she swung closer to the integrated drone closest. It was the one furthest away from the main compound and therefore, out of the range of the First Squadron defense line. Her own squadron had been given orders to incapacitate and not destroy, and to leave this one particular drone to her. All she had to do was to get close enough to attach the tracker device.

A drone swooped close by and she immediately fired off another shot of nitrogen slush. It stalled midair and then spun downwards rapidly, allowing Kallen to refocus her attention on her target. Just as she was about the reach it, other drones interrupted her. She continued to battle the numerous drones in the attempt to get closer to her target. Unfortunately, it seemed to realize that she was a threat and was retreating as she advanced.

Suddenly, blasts of nitrogen sped past her, taking out several of those grey drones. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see Gawain approaching steadily. It occurred to her that this was the first time this new Zero had joined them in battle. From what she could tell, he was creating a path for her.

"Q-1, move in now."

"Understood, Zero-sama."

The grey drones kept coming but Zero's Gawain attacked them relentlessly. One by one, they fell out of the air and she took advantage of the opening to move straight at the integrated drone. It sensed her approach and backed away, but her greater speed allowed her to catch up with it.

She slashed the amalgamated drone with her energy wing and as it ducked, she swiped out with her Slash Harkens. The claws at the end of the cable held a single tracking device and it snapped forward until it made contact with the enemy drone. By the time she retracted the Slash Harkens, the device was successfully attached to her target.

"It's on, Zero!"

"Good job, Q-1. Now take a hit and move away."

_Take a hit? What the hell?_ "A hit, you say?" she echoed disbelievingly.

"Do it."

She gritted her teeth. Whatever Zero was thinking had better be good enough to risk her neck. She pushed her Guren forward and slashed out with her energy wing and as expected, the enemy frame retaliated with a swing of its laser blade. It connected with the Guren's left side and the frame shook at the impact. The enemy went on to swing a kick which connected with her armored torso but the force sent her reeling back.

She allowed herself to fall.

From her free-falling position looking upwards, she could see a single grey drone was right at the back, hovering higher than the rest. That one was more stuck up than the rest, was it? She smirked. As her Guren continued to drop out of the sky, Kallen's eyes narrowed and she aimed. An icy blast of nitrogen connected with the drone. A second later, smoke was trailing out as it spiraled down.

She flipped herself around just before she hit the ground. She landed with a jarring impact that rattled her teeth and she proceeded to curse Zero in her head. There was no way she would agree to do that again.

When she looked back up in the sky, a gasp left her lips.

One by one, the remaining disc-shaped drones and the combined ones flickered out of sight. No one was actually shooting at them anymore but it looked like they were retreating. She didn't understand what had prompted it.

000

* * *

000

Suzaku stood behind Lelouch as he watched the surveillance footage from earlier. As the minutes ticked by, he could sense his old friend growing increasingly tense. After ensuring that nothing major was damaged in the two explosions, Lelouch had locked himself in this room and gone through the mountains of research paperwork before digesting the contents of the UFN meeting. It was near midnight now and the man didn't look as if he was planning on stopping any time soon.

Another hour passed before Lelouch finally leaned back and pinched the bridge of his nose with his eyes closed. He certainly looked stressed which suggested that the situation was not to his liking.

Calmly, Suzaku asked, "What do you think?"

A heavy sigh escaped Lelouch. "I think she is trying to smoke Zero out."

"For what?"

"It's clearly not for the greater good, even though she'd so far avoided killing any civilians. The attacks were threats aimed at Japan. No other countries had suffered attacks to the scale ours had, and none of them had their administrative areas targeted."

Suzaku had a bad feeling about this. "Why would she target you then?"

Lelouch shrugged. "Who knows? I've killed so many people. Is it surprising that some people hate me?" he asked in a careless tone.

Knowing that the black-haired man wasn't as unaffected as he let on, Suzaku pointed out, "It was Zero, not Lelouch."

A wry smile crossed his lips. "Aa. It was Zero. And that's why Zero must deal with this now."

Keeping his eyes on Lelouch, Suzaku sat down on the couch. Seeing Lelouch like this disturbed him. The Geass user might have issued some evil orders in his lifetime, but now Suzaku understood that it was all for the greater good. Still, he hoped that this crisis would not require the sort of drastic measures his old friend had implemented in the past.

Deciding to change the topic, he asked, "So what was Kallen doing in here earlier?"

Lelouch frowned. "She still suspects that I'm Lelouch. I think she figured out that I'm wearing prosthetics."

Eyes widening, he exclaimed, "How?"

"I don't know. Could be from Sayoko, since not that many people knows about it."

"Are you worried that she would find out?"

Lelouch shrugged. "Right now, I have other things on my mind."

"You know, I'm not much help with strategizing, but you should send me out to fight."

"You're the ace up my sleeve." Lelouch gave him a wry smile. "I can't show you off so soon."

"I see."

Almost absently, the thinner man muttered, "The tracking device was moving west before it disappeared."

"Do you think there could be some sort of alternate dimension up there?"

"It's possible. We don't know what technology they possess." Lelouch tapped his fingers upon the edge of the console. "Still, it's too early to tell. I suspect the tracker will show up eventually. Then we'll have a better idea of what to do next."

"You think there's a way around this?"

"Of course. I'll come up with something."

000

* * *

000

Seated on her bike, Kallen directed the vehicle along the same roads she took every day in her journey to and from work. It was yet another uneventful day and she didn't know if she should be happy or not. Several days had passed without a single incident and she couldn't help but hope that maybe the enemy had been scared off after their most recent battle. Praying that this was the case, she maneuvered her bike into the street leading to her house.

To her surprise, she saw Kanon not far away, walking with a boy and a girl. His two companions were in their early teens and were clearly twins considering the similarities in their features. She waved at Kanon and he waved back, but the teenagers only regarded her warily. Smart kids, she thought as she directed her bike through the gates leading into her short driveway.

The mouthwatering scent of dinner reached her as she entered the house. "Okaa-san! I'm home!" she called out.

Her mother poked her head out from the kitchen. "It's almost ready."

"I'll shower first," she told her mother.

It didn't take long for her to get out of her clothes and freshen herself. The hot shower felt good after an entire day at work. Just as she finished, the sound of her mother's voice reached her through the door, and she switched off the water to peek out of the bathroom.

"Did you say something, 'Kaa-san?" she called out.

"Kallen-chan, your Zero-sama is on the news."

_Her Zero-sama?_ Snagging a towel and wrapping it around herself, she popped out of the bathroom. Curiosity overrode modesty and she ran down the stairs to join her mother in front of the monitor. She was right. Zero stood there in front of a row of Japanese Council members. It was evident that all of them were anxious. What was going on? Since he was clad in his full costume, it meant that she had no idea which Zero it was, at least until he spoke. She bet that it was Zero-Suzaku, though. The other Zero interacted with the staff and the Black Knights but he usually avoided such public settings.

"We're broadcasting live from Administration Complex…" the on-site reporter said, "... where Zero wishes to make an announcement to the people of Japan. Zero?"

Zero nodded at the reporter and faced the camera. Kallen felt her heart thud harder in a mix of anticipation and apprehension as he opened his mouth.

"Citizens of Japan. Over the past two years, we've progressed admirably in the rebuilding our home. A roof over our head and food on our table are now the norm, as it should be. All of you should be proud of your achievement."

Her eyes widened in astonishment as he continued to speak about the development in Japan. This was the new Zero, not Zero-Suzaku. What happened to keeping a low profile? She might be the first one to seek the truth about his identity, but that didn't mean that she thought it was a good idea to let everyone know.

Zero carried on, "... and the recent attacks. These attacks are only focused on the members of United Federation of Nations. Independent countries such as Australia were left unaffected. I have no jurisdiction over other UFN countries and as such, I cannot decide for them. But if being a member of UFN places us at risk, one has to ask, is the risk worth it?"

Kallen gasped aloud when she realized what he intended to do. Was he out of his mind? As she watched with growing trepidation, he slashed down an imperious hand.

His voice was quiet but it carried the impact of a sledgehammer. "No. The risk is unacceptable. Therefore, Zero declares that from this day onwards, Japan is no longer part of the United Federation of Nations."

000

* * *

000

A/N: Hope you like the progress of this story. Me and my muse would appreciate your reviews, so please drop us a few words!

:elle6778:


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